Qualla Boundary

The Qualla Boundary (also called the Qualla) is the territory where the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians reside. The Qualla Boundary is located in western North Carolina, just south of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The Qualla Boundary is not a reservation, but rather a "land trust" supervised by the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs. The land itself was a fragment of the extensive original homeland of the vast Cherokee Nation. The people had to purchase their own land back after it was taken over by the US government.

The main part of the Qualla Boundary lies in eastern Swain County and northern Jackson County. There are many smaller non-contiguous sections to the southwest in Cherokee County and Graham County in North Carolina. A small part of the main reservation extends eastward into Haywood County. The total land area of these parts is 213.934 km² (82.6 sq mi), with a 2000 census resident population of 8,092 persons.

The Qualla Boundary was first surveyed in 1876 by M.S. Temple under the auspices of the United States Land Office. These pieces were embodied in a map published as the "Map of the Qualla Indian reserve".

• Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians

• Eastern Cherokee Reservation, North Carolina United States Census Bureau
• Indians, Eastern Band of Cherokees of North Carolina, by Thomas Donaldson, 1892, 11th Census of the United States, Robert P. Porter, Superintendent, US Printing Office, Washington, D.C. Published online at Eastern Band of Cherokees of North Carolina. Retrieved on 2009-01-08