DSK wrote:
Jeff Rigby wrote:
"There was a vacumn here as 80% of the origional indians in the eastern and
south easteren continental US were killed by dieases brought in by spanish
explorers. When the english and dutch sought to colonize this country there
were many unclaimed lands."


Really? How come there is no mention of that in any land title documents?

Usually land grants were given by the king, who owned the land by right
of conquest or divine providence, depending... or the large land
grantees also posted ownership claims based on grants & purchases from
Indian tribes.

So you are saying they ignored occupancy, but you insist that it
should have been mentioned if it happened? That isn't logical.

If you know of any land titles originated by a European settler arriving
in North America, and stating "There was nobody here, so it's my land
now," I'd be interested to see it.

Ahem, try taking a look at the history of the Mayflower's
landing at Plymonth Rock. And keep in mind that that was 200
years *after* de Soto depopulated what is now the eastern US.

The European diseases were *still* making the rounds...

There is certainly no such in North Carolina, because the royal land
grants covering the area are still extant. AFAIK that's also true of all
the original colonies and the Louisiana Purchase.

No mention of Eskimos in my post

No, I mentioned the Eskimos because in your original statement, they
could well have been included. That's what happens when you make vague
and unsupportable claims, and at at the same time try to insert dramatic
statistics.

The only correction needed there is that of course it wasn't
pre-1700 and it wasn't the Spanish. But the Native populations
of Alaska suffered just about the exact same depopulation that
happened elsewhere. Due to the remote access it happened later,
but by about 1900 it was in full fury, and lasted well into the
life times of living people.

I lived for about 20 years in a place known as Salcha, where
there is still a cemetery (well hidden from casual tourists),
and the old village, and when I lived there the last surviving
Salcha Indian was my next door neighbor. She was one of the few
(a dozen or so) who had survived an epidemic in the late 1930's

In fact, at one time or another virtually *every* Native village
in Alaska was all but wiped out, with less that 15 or 20%
surviving. (Imagine what that does to a culture, when 90% of
the knowledge required to make it function disappears in a
matter of days.)

And while you've all heard of the wonderful race to Nome with
diptheria serum to save the Whites, you won't hear, even in the
1950's of anyone going to that effort to save the Natives.

It is a *disgusting* history, that continues today. We made a
deal with Native people to take their land, and the primary
payment for that was to be health care. Today the Indian Health
Service is funded at 50% of need. Think about that, and what it
means to Native children and elders. (Or to people like me, who
even though I am non-Native, must rely on the same health care
facilities.)

You mean the Indians? It's a bit late to defend them, although they may
end up buying the country back with casino proceeds.

How about if they just forclose on the mortgage for non-payment,
and take all their land back.

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