DSK wrote:
Floyd Davidson wrote:
Okay. Except of course that has nothing to do with the
statement quoted above.

It does if you can parse relatively simple sentences in English.

Apparently you can't.

... He did *not* claim that anyone made
land claims based on occupancy, he just state that ".... When
the english and dutch sought to colonize this country there were
many unclaimed lands."

Along with a few other statements which added up to what I said: that

What he said is quoted above. That you didn't understand it is
obvious, and you are now trying to defend that misunderstanding.

Jeff thinks many white settlers grabbed land that was totally empty

It certainly did happen exactly that way!

One obvious example is Plymouth Rock, where the colonists on the
Mayflower eventually settled, after looking at more promising
locations and deciding to move on because of a potentially
hostile Indian population.

They selected Plymouth Rock simply because it was *not*
populated.

(possibly true but rare enough that it's hard to find references to it)

A second example that is well documented is the Willamette
Valley in Oregon. There were no people there when the settlers
arrived, but they found cleared fields... which is why they
settled there.

(Just as with Plymouth Rock, the Willamette Valley had been
depopulated by diseases introduced by the first European
explorers, in the immediate years prior to the arrival of
colonists.)

and legally justified their ownership based on lack of previous
inhabitants (false as far as I've been able to determine, and you
certainly haven't gotten far with this one either).

Legal justification was not the issue. That's just your strawman.

... Which is true to the extent that the
previous claimants were either all killed by disease, or
weakened to the point were forcible removal was easy.


In a few cases, sure. In many other cases the Indians were numerous and
strong enough to push white settlers out of their tribal lands, and even
held off outright military invasion for a while at least.

The operative words are "for a while at least", and of course then
the diseases and the genocide ended all resistance.

--
Floyd L. Davidson http://www.apaflo.com/floyd_davidson
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska)