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 1860 that the Federal census enumerated the American Indian population directly, counting only that portion of the population living outside of reservations (in other words, only those American Indians who were taxable). The American Indians enumerated were included in the general population, without separate recognition as American Indians in the data tabulations and publications.

The 1870 census was the first to include a separate category for Indians on the census schedule. Since the 1870 census, the Census Bureau has increased the types of data collected for American Indians, and instituted special procedures to enumerate them more accurately. The enumeration techniques and demographic classification methods applied to the American Indian and Alaska Native populations, and the recognition of different types of AIANAs, have varied from census to census. In decennial censuses before 1970, the Census Bureau used various enumeration techniques. There were, however, no geographic programs or special geographic entities (apart from enumeration districts and an occasional CCD) used to collect, tabulate, and publish data for American Indians, Eskimos, and Aleuts and their settlements.

By 1970, government agencies, American Indians, and Alaska Natives all were becoming interested in census data for indigenous population groups. Tribes and native groups had assumed a more active role in self-government, and the agencies responsible for the distribution of State and Federal program monies began using census data to allocate funds.

For the 1970 census, the BIA identified 115 American Indian reservations for which the Census Bureau tabulated and presented data. To identify these entities, the Census Bureau used the reservation boundaries shown on its enumeration maps. In many cases, these reservation boundaries proved to be inaccurate and incomplete; also, map features often were insufficiently detailed within many small reservations and Alaska Native settlements. These shortcomings resulted in inaccurate data tabulations. Notes and References American Indian and Alaska Native Areas5-7