Who is an Indian?

    Indians had intermarried with other Indian tribes before the arrival of Europeans and, since contact with Europeans, many tribes have intermarried with white Europeans producing a large population of mixed-bloods who knew the tradition and customs of both worlds, the white and the Indian, or who stayed as outsiders in both worlds.
    Furthermore, many tribes took captive children from other tribes as well as non-Indian people. These people were supposed to take the place of dead members of the tribe, and, many of them were completely integrated in the tribal life.
    Generally speaking, the Federal government defines an Indian as a person of one-quarter or more United States Indian descent who resides upon Federal "trust land' (reservations, colonies, or rancherios) or who has preserved membership in a tribe occupying "trust land". This is important for economic and other resource reasons. It establishes who is and who is not entitled to government services. Why one quarter? Most people are less than one-quarter, so they do not form a political nation. Many native nations use the government's criteria while other tribes use an inferior range to determine membership.