it is a matter of great concern to a lot of people to figure out what a "reservation" is and how one qualifies for it, as in "enrolled." Absolutely no one is going to listen to what I say, but I'll try to nail it down a bit anyway.
First, to preserve the original inhabitants of a land while occupying their territory is a very unbiological thing to do. Normally the original inhabitants reduce or extinguish themselves due to conditions either brought in from outside or pre-existing, which prepared the way for the new population. This suggests that the moment Euros set foot on America, the immunity problem was going to have as much impact as plague from Asia and African diseases from domesticated animals had on historical Europe.
"The origin of smallpox as a natural disease is lost in prehistory. It is believed to have appeared around 10,000 BC, at the time of the first agricultural settlements in northeastern Africa. It seems plausible that it spread from there to India by means of ancient Egyptian merchants."
"Smallpox was introduced to Europe sometime between the fifth and seventh centuries and was frequently epidemic during the Middle Ages. The disease greatly affected the development of Western civilization."
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1200696/
Bloody battles recur in the history of this long-rolling American invasion, but they preceded and post-dated the vacuums and crippling from microbes. The Blackfeet massacre of a camp full of sick people would have had quite a different outcome if the men had been healthy and present. As it was, when the cavalry discovered the women and children with smallpox, they mixed war with disinfection by burning the food and shelter.
When specialized scientists try to understand hominin fossils, they often see that one population is replaced by another, sometimes by absorbing them, sometimes by evidently using violence, and probably most often simply by being better suited to the reigning conditions. The only possible reason that last is operative here is that Euros, through the doctrine of Empire, asserted that they were able to subjugate everything, even the people. Future scientists studying the Now, if there are any, will note that this approach was time- and resource-limited, but that original culture of the people in the Americas was not, partly because of variousness when the Euro idea was conformity. In other words, the naturally evolved culture that pre-existed the Euro invasion, was ultimately better and not dependent on exploitation with limits.
However, nations and their convictions are never ultimate and a certain amount of compromise is necessary. The problem that the indigenous people face now (to the degree that they still are indigenous) Is how to exist in the moment so as to be present in the future. Hitler and Trump would like to kill everyone of them, women and children included. Or at least create circumstances that would cause them all to die. But Hitler drove the most potent scientists and humanities stars to America where they have thrived and strengthened the Euro aspects. Trump has simply imploded the standing order. At best, some hope, he makes way for renewal.
There are no reservations in Europe. "The name "reservation" comes from the conception of the Native American tribes as independent sovereigns at the time the U.S. Constitution was ratified." (1787) It comes in part from the idea that the indigenous people were nations, requiring negotiation and treaties. But also from an assumption that the easiest solution was separation, boundaries, and that the continent was so vast that there was room to just push the tribes onto unused land.
There was not one universal treaty for all indigenous people but rather a patchwork as time rolled along. Eventually, the idea of the indigenous being nations weakened, so now there were "agreements." As the old ways weakened, more force became practical to the point of closing off sources of food, both by killing all the buffalo and by punishing individuals by denying them commodities. This was Empire thinking, going back to the Akkadian Empire in Mesopotamia, 2,000 years BC, but in that example, the two demographics were allowed to merge and kept both languages.
In contrast, there were two warring factions in the Americas, rooted in early assumptions about what the new country was. On one hand, a group that forgot indigenous people were as human as anyone else used education and appearance to claim that they were a separate race, something like species. But the indigenous also used education and the malleability of appearance to ignore the reality. Demographics began to blend until a much bigger and less identifiable kind of person was everywhere and could "pass," thus dumping the reservation idea.
The contrasting assumption came from German romantic ideas about nature as the pristine source of virtue and value. Though also confining and stereotypical, the idea of the superiority of the natural people of the Americas was strong and remains a "third rail" killer-response in defense of indigenous people. The expectations this idea imposes are a mixture of idealism and entitlement to pass judgement. They have blended with the high value of wilderness and offer a way to resist resource domination.
Neither of these factions comes from the original peoples themselves but greatly confuse the issue of reservations, a territory staked out as either a confinement like a concentration camp or a preserve like a wilderness preserve, as for animals. As well, it's very hard to detach the idea of resource-based Empire which imposes resource-grip on an isolated area, from the laws imposed at state and federal levels, both of which exclude the reservation-affiliated.
The overwhelming question of what a human being is, which carries in its answer the key to morality, is joined by the question of what a descendent of the indigenous people is, esp if they leave the reservation and "pass." Another complication is that identity comes from something mysterious in "blood," so that we speak of people's blood as though it could be fractionated. In fact, a person -- like any mammal -- is made according to the directions of DNA, molecular interactions within every cell EXCEPT blood cells, which have no nucleus. DNA at conception is separated and then re-united in a way that makes each individual unique.
In turn, as usual, the DNA of a person is affected by the environment by developing epigenetic modifications and local mini-mutations. Thus a person who stays on the rez will react to local geology and climate by subtly including them in their bodies, but a person who moves far away will interpolate different isotopes of elements. This sort of thing is almost undetectable without modern science, but cultural change will be more definite and drastic.
So what is an "Indian" and how does he or she relate to a "reservation"? The discussion is going to be intense and vital for a long time. Concepts and their vocabularies are suddenly crucial, life-changing. Ideas, like microbes, are contagious and travel the land, changing everything.
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