Red Lake Indian Reservation

Red Lake Indian Reservation

The Red Lake Indian Reservation (Miskwaagamiiwi-zaaga'igan) covers 1,258.62 sq mi (3,259.81 km²) in parts of nine counties in northern Minnesota, United States. It is divided into many pieces, although the largest piece is centered about Red Lake, in north-central Minnesota, the largest lake entirely within that state. This section lies primarily in the counties of Beltrami and Clearwater. Land in seven other counties is part of the reservation. The second-largest section is much farther north in the Northwest Angle of Lake of the Woods County, near the Canadian border. It has no permanent residents. Between these two largest sections are hundreds of mostly tiny, non-contiguous reservation exclaves in the counties of Beltrami, Clearwater, Lake of the Woods, Koochiching, Roseau, Pennington, Marshall, Red Lake, and Polk.

Home to the federally recognized Red Lake Band of Chippewa, it is unique as the only "closed reservation" in Minnesota. The tribe claims the land by right of conquest and aboriginal title; it was not reassigned by the United States government. It is the most populous reservation in the state, according to the 2000 census, which recorded 5,162 residents. The only place in Minnesota with a higher Native American population is the state's largest city, Minneapolis, which recorded 8,378 Indian residents that year. The reservation's largest community is Red Lake, on the south shore of Red Lake. Given the large lake in the heart of the reservation, its total land area of 880.324 square miles (2,280.03 km2) is only about 70% of the reservation's surface area.