PaxRyana Posted July 4, 2016 Posted July 4, 2016 Did Europeans really steal America from the Natives? Personally, I would say they didn't, as Natives sold land to Europeans for beads and alcohol, but I would like to know what the people of this forum think. On either side, I'd like to know what you guys think. Lemme know! (If you could cite your historical evidences that'd be great!)
aviet Posted July 4, 2016 Posted July 4, 2016 You will need to research this. I seem to remember that the Western European nations decided among themselves that since natives of various regions had no real legal system and in some case little concept of property ownership that any of these such regions could legally and morally be taken control of.It is obvious that Europeans displaced natives in the Americas, but legally I think it will be more ambiguous.
n4hpg Posted July 11, 2016 Posted July 11, 2016 Stefan did a video on this topic where he discussed the facts concerning the contagion of european diseases wiping out vast quantities of natives and how these diseases depopulated vast areas. This was not a deliberate attack, but just the result of lack of immunity. We europeans have some rather strong diseases in our past. Take Plague... Confining the conversation to North America. The first question presupposes that there was an assertion of property rights by the natives. Keep in mind that european civilization was about 7,000 years more modern than the native american cultures. The traditions and history of the native americans was an oral tradition in songs and stories as they lacked a written language (North America). Many were nomadic following the seasons. They also had a conquest culture where one tribe would conquer another and take its resources. Some scholars have opined that their culture would find the very concept that a given parcel of land as belonging to a person as strange. So, the short answer is NO. There were no surveys of property with recorded instruments until we arrived. It was not like the Germans crossing the Belgian border where the limits were clearly known. <grin> In the very early days of european settlements, they hugged the coastline so as to be close to ships sailing between Europe and North America. This meant that the diseases from contact with europeans decimated the native populations further inland before anyone really noticed.
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