Cite as: 522 U. S. 520 (1998)
Opinion of the Court
Justice Thomas delivered the opinion of the Court.
In this case, we must decide whether approximately 1.8 million acres of land in northern Alaska, owned in fee simple by the Native Village of Venetie Tribal Government pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, is "Indian country." We conclude that it is not, and we therefore reverse the judgment below.
I
The Village of Venetie, which is located in Alaska above the Arctic Circle, is home to the Neets'aii Gwich'in Indians. In 1943, the Secretary of the Interior created a reservation for the Neets'aii Gwich'in out of the land surrounding Venetie and another nearby tribal village, Arctic Village. See App. to Pet. for Cert. 2a. This land, which is about the size of Delaware, remained a reservation until 1971, when Congress enacted the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), a comprehensive statute designed to settle all land claims by Alaska Natives. See 85 Stat. 688, as amended, 43 U. S. C. § 1601 et seq.
In enacting ANCSA, Congress sought to end the sort of federal supervision over Indian affairs that had previously
for the Alaska Fish & Wildlife Federation and Outdoor Council, Inc., et al. by James Martin Johnson and Gregory Frank Cook; and for the Council of State Governments et al. by Richard Ruda, Charles F. Lettow, and Michael R. Lazerwitz.
Briefs of amici curiae urging affirmance were filed for the Navajo Nation et al. by Paul E. Frye, Judith K. Bush, and James R. Bellis; for the Tanana Chiefs Conference by Bertram E. Hirsch, Michael J. Walleri, Bruce J. Ennis, Jr., and Thomas Perrelli; for Koniag, Inc., by R. Collin Middleton, William H. Timme, and Timothy W. Seaver; and for Indian Law Professors by Richard B. Collins, David H. Getches, Raphael J. Moses, Robert N. Clinton, Carole E. Goldberg, and Ralph W. Johnson.
Briefs of amici curiae were filed for the Alaska Federation of Natives et al. by Arlinda F. Locklear, David S. Case, Carol H. Daniel, Douglas Pope, Hans Walker, Jr., and Marsha Kostura Schmidt; for the Metlakatla Indian Community by S. Bobo Dean and Marsha Kostura Schmidt; and for Shee Atika, Inc., by Bruce N. Edwards.
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