The Rise and Fall of Indian Country, 1776-1900

3 units

What does the phrase Indian Country mean in American history? Was it a soverign state with complex political societies, an ill-defined place distinguished by a savage wilderness, or something else entirely? By examining the long history of Indian Country as both a physical space and a political concept, this course asks questions about how North America's indigenous people shaped the political history of the continental interior from the establishment of the United States to the closing of the frontier in the 1890s. Indian Country as a historical concept touches on some of the crucial aspects of American history: race, space and political identity, and challenges our assumptions about what government, nationality and cultural identity look like in the American context.