In the period from 1860 to 1890 most Native Americans were forced to live on reservations.
Since there were many newcomers moving west, the federal government introduced a policy of restricting Native Americans to reservations, small areas of land within a group’s territory that was reserved exclusively for their use, in an attempt to grant more land for the non-Indian settlers.
The major goals of Indian reservations were to bring Native Americans under U.S. government control, reduce conflict between Indians and settlers and drive Native Americans to take on the ways of the white man.
