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You are here: Home / History / Why did the U.S. government want Plains Indians to live on reservations?

Why did the U.S. government want Plains Indians to live on reservations?

March 5, 2020 by Karen Hill

If Native Americans were confined to a reservation, government officials could keep an eye on them more easily.

The government also wanted to encourage Plains Indians to settle permanently on reservation lands and take up farming.

Indians who farmed needed much less land than those who moved from place to place hunting buffalo. Plains Indian men, however, had little interest in becoming farmers. They found the work of farming hard and boring in comparison to the excitement of buffalo hunting.

Indians called trains “iron horses.”

Related Facts

  • What was the European Age of Exploration?
  • Which Explorers First Explored the Continents of the World?
  • How did Plains Indians hunt buffalo and Why was Hunting on horseback so much easier?
  • What Happened To the Buffalo of the Great Plains and How Did Hunting Affect Buffalo Herds In North America?
  • When did Plains Indians come in contact with whites?
  • Why did the Plains Indians’ Ghost Dance frighten white people?

Filed Under: History

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

Previous Post: « How did Indian Territory become a state and When was the State of Oklahoma created?
Next Post: What was Red Cloud’s War and and Why did the Lakota Sioux defend the Bozeman Trail? »

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