St. Regis Mohawk Reservation is a Mohawk Indian reservation in Franklin County, New York, United States. It is also known by its Mohawk name, Akwesasne. The population was 3,288 at the 2010 census. The reservation is adjacent to the Akwesasne reserve in Ontario and Quebec. The Mohawk consider the entire community to be one unit. The reservation contains the villages of Hogansburg and St. Regis.
Under the terms of the Jay Treaty (1794), the Mohawk people may pass freely across the Canada–United States border. The two parts of the reservation are separated by the St. Lawrence River and the 45th parallel.
The Mohawk are one of the original Five Nations of the Iroquois, historically based in present-day New York, and the "Keepers of the Eastern Door".
The reservation adopted gambling in the 1980s. It has caused deep controversy. Broadly speaking, the elected chiefs and the Warrior Society have supported gambling, while the traditional chiefs have opposed it. Today, the reservation is home to the Akwesasne Mohawk Casino and the Mohawk Bingo Palace.
The elected tribal governments on the New York and Canadian sides and the traditional chiefs of Akwesasne often work together as a "Tri-Council" concerning areas of shared interest, for example to negotiate land claims settlements.
The Mohawk Tribe views the reservation as a "sovereign nation," but shares jurisdiction with the State of New York, the United States, and the Town of Bombay, in which it is located.
Read more about St. Regis Mohawk Reservation: Geography, Demographics, Controversies, History, In Popular Culture
Famous quotes containing the word reservation:
“Music is so much a part of their daily lives that if an Indian visits another reservation one of the first questions asked on his return is: “What new songs did you learn?””
—Federal Writers’ Project Of The Wor, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)