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Indian Reservations are noteworthy for two reasons. First, the people who live in them are neither from India, nor the East Indies, nor the West Indies, nor even from Indiana. The name comes about because Christopher Columbus foolishly thought he had landed in India when he landed in North America so many years ago. The fact that the name has stuck reflects the almost Vogon-like stubbornness of what became the American people. Second, when these Americans expanded westward and northward, they decided, as a repayment to Native Americans for giving them clever names for their cities, to take their land away. When someone cried foul, the settlers pointed to some land "over there" that the Native Americans could feel free to use. The threat of the U.S. Cavalry led the Native Americans to comply. Unfortunately, the reservation lands were suitable neither for the Native Americans' traditional pursuits such as hunting or fishing, nor for European pursuits, such as agriculture. The people languished for a hundred years or so, until finally, near the end of the twentieth century, some court rulings allowed them to open gambling casinos on their land, thus sharing a monopoly on legalized gambling with the government (lotteries and the like) and horse racing establishments. These casinos, of course, have proven immensely popular among Americans wishing to lose money (and there is never a shortage of those).