Cite as: 522 U. S. 520 (1998)
Opinion of the Court
In United States v. Pelican, we held that Indian allot-ments--parcels of land created out of a diminished Indian reservation and held in trust by the Federal Government for the benefit of individual Indians--were Indian country. 232 U. S., at 449. We stated that the original reservation was Indian country "simply because it had been validly set apart for the use of the Indians as such, under the superintendence of the Government." Ibid. (emphasis added). After the reservation's diminishment, the allotments continued to be Indian country, as "the lands remained Indian lands set apart for Indians under governmental care; . . . we are unable to find ground for the conclusion that they became other than Indian country through the distribution into separate holdings, the Government retaining control." Ibid.
In United States v. McGowan, we held that the Reno Indian Colony in Reno, Nevada, was Indian country even though it was not a reservation. 302 U. S., at 539. We reasoned that, like Indian reservations generally, the colony had been " 'validly set apart for the use of the Indians . . . under the superintendence of the Government.' " Ibid. (quoting United States v. Pelican, supra, at 449) (emphasis deleted). We noted that the Federal Government had created the colony by purchasing the land with "funds appropriated by Congress" and that the Federal Government held the colony's land in trust for the benefit of the Indians residing there. 302 U. S., at 537, and n. 4. We also emphasized that the Federal Government possessed the authority to enact "regulations and protective laws respecting th[e] [colony's] territory," id., at 539, which it had exercised in retaining title to the land and permitting the Indians to live there. For these reasons, a federal statute requiring the forfeiture of automobiles carrying "intoxicants" into the Indian country applied to the colony; we noted that the law was an example of the protections that Congress had extended to all " 'dependent Indian communities' " within the territory of the United
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