Bureau of Indian Affairs

The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), also known as the Office of Indian Affairs, is the U.S. government administrative unit that manages Indian policy and fulfills trust duties for American Indians, Indian tribes, and Alaska Natives. The 2010 U.S. census indicates 2.9 million persons, or 0.9 percent, were American Indians and Alaska Natives alone, and 5.2 million, or 1.7 percent, alone or if combined with one or more other races. These figures are increases of 18 percent and 27 percent over the 2000 census population figures of 2.5 million and 4.1 million persons, respectively. The largest population numbers were in the western and southern census regions of the country; the greatest proportion was in Anchorage, Alaska; the largest population place was New York. The U.S. government indicates there are more than 560 federally recognized American Indian tribes and Alaska Native villages, each with its own authority based on fundamental sovereignty.

From the late 1700s, the BIA has taken various forms. Original policy and trust responsibilities were placed with the Office of the Secretary of War by an official act in 1789. The Office of Indian Trade operated from 1806 to 1822. The formal Office of Indian Affairs was established on March 11, 1824; it began in the Department of War (1824–1849), was transferred to the Department of the Interior (1849–1947), and was renamed the Bureau of Indian Affairs (1947–present).

Throughout most of its existence, the BIA was integrally involved in virtually all aspects of the lives of Native Americans. The BIA administered the health, welfare, education, employment, and, at times, even the physical location of tribes throughout the country. Millions of pages of BIA archival documents confirm this pervasive influence and include records such as treaties, ledgers, claims, litigations, surveys, journals, correspondence, and speeches.

Today, the BIA structure is organized into Offices of Indian Services, Justice Services, and Trust Services; field offices; and 12 regions that offer programs and initiatives that cover a wide variety of areas of responsibility. In general, the BIA promotes self-determination through an emphasis on decentralization and local control. On an annual basis, the BIA distributes federal [Page 406]funding ($2.4 billion in fiscal year 2008) directly, through contracts and grants, and through compact agreements with tribes. More specifically, the BIA supports educational services to about 48,000 students in more than two dozen day and residential schools, colleges, and universities throughout the country. It delivers social services, as well as law enforcement and detention services. It maintains specific infrastructure such as certain roads, bridges, dams, and irrigation systems. It manages approximately 56 million acres of land held in trust, as well as trust assets of those lands, including, for example, natural and mineral resources such as forests. Finally, it is involved in energy and economic development with specialized business and loan programs to Indian enterprises.