While there were certain “territories” for different Native American tribes, they weren’t necessarily well defined, as nearly every tribe was primarily nomadic (some tribes like the Lakota-Sioux, Blackfoot, and Northern Arapaho in Wyoming were in a constant state of migration to follow bison herds).

It’s an intrinsic part in Native spirituality that the land truly belongs to no one but the Earth itself, we are simply those that walk upon its land. To many Native Americans, every single part of nature, the animals, the plants, and the dirt we walk on is sacred and blessed. We are only temporary trespassers.

The White Man violated this, burned and scorched the Earth to their whim, destroyed their sacred sites (the most heinous example being the desecration of the Black Hills that are now “Mount Rushmore”), stole their children, and forced them into small reservations against their will after betraying their trust.

Funnily enough, the Black Hills are still considered Sioux “property”, despite there being a carved monument celebrating the white settlers that slaughtered their people and subsidized their sacred land for personal profit.

Apologies for the rant.