American IndiansAmerican Indians are the native people in the United States.They belong to more than five hundred Indian tribes.Many tribe members live on reservations.These are areas that the United States government set up for native tribes that had lost their lands to European settlers.Some reservations are larger than American states.The Bureau of Indian Affairs supervises these territories.Tribes on reservations have limited self-rule.Generally, American Indians do not enjoy the same economic and educational success as other Americans.They earn less money and have more unemployment than other Americans.They also have higher rates of disease and die younger than other American groups.However, the American Indian economy has grown at three times the national rate since the 1980s.Some of the improvement has come from expansion of the American Indian gambling industry.Many Indian tribes have legalized gambling on their reservations.
