The "state" of Oklahoma's true geographical size??

[decepticobra]

Ive always been curious to know just what The "State" of Oklahoma's true geographical size is when you subtract all Native American reservations and territories from it.

For starters, everyone knows that Oklahoma's largest county, Osage County, is really The Osage Nation reservation. The city of Tahlequah is actually the Cherokee Nation's capitol and much of the area around it belongs to the Cherokee Nation.

In recent times, The Chickasaw Nation has made concerted efforts in letting travellers along the I-35 corridor coming in from Texas know that they are actually in Chickasaw Nation territory....from the Red River all the way up to the Canadian River right before crossing into Norman, OK.

On I-44/Turner Turnpike heading from Oklahoma City to Tulsa, there's signage to indicate when you are passing thru Sac & Fox Nation. The area around Durant, OK is Choctaw Nation, and the area around Lawton, OK belongs to Kiowa Nation.

I have searched relentlessly for a map which clearly shows what areas in Oklahoma are Native American territories, much like how many state maps of Arizona clearly show The Najavo Nation in the northwestern quadrant of their state. In fact, many other state's maps clearly show geographical boundaries of where Native American reservations are clearly defined at.

Im almost under the impression that, if you were to subtract all Native American reservations/territories from Oklahoma, then the remaining land that isnt Native American would probably equate to something the size of Massachusetts.

Does anyone know the real answer to this mystery?

[Snowman]

Not sure the current situations but this was the pre statehood map

[adaniel]

Contrary to what most people think, there is actually very little land in OK under what is called restricted Indian trust status. With that map in mind, its important to remember that not all the land within a indian nation boundary belong to the tribe. Those are more historic boundaries more than anything, more or less just defining the tribe's technical authority.

Before the land runs, it is true that all of the land belong to the specific tribes, with no real ownership between members. When lands were open for white settlement, most tribal members at the time got a land allotment, usually no more than 160 acres or a quarter of a section. Over time, some allottees just sold off their land to farmers in a court-approved sale. In addition, the tribe (or now the BIA) can only keep land in indian trust as long as heirs to the original allottee have a minimum amount of "indian blood," typically no less than 1/2 blood quantity. So as more NDN's have married and had children with non native americans, the number of people with suffucient blood quantity has declined significantly.

The lone exception to this Osage County, which operates as a true indian reservation. But the vast majority of OK is now in fee ownership (as in non-indian).

[KayneMo]

Here's a tribal jurisdiction map with county boundaries as well:


The Five Civilized Tribes and the eight small northeastern tribes have an area of about 31,000 sq. mi. I haven't yet found data for the tribes that make up historic Oklahoma Territory.