... I've always been curious about
Indian history before the white man arrived, but there doesn't seem to be
much written on it. At least, that I have been able to find.


True, and there really isn't a lot of data to base these depopulation
figures on. Nobody really knows what the population numbers were.

The link that you posted yesterday was very interesting, thanks.

Doug Kanter wrote:
This doesn't fit the bill, but you might still find it interesting:

"A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies", by Bartolomé De Las
Cassas
Written in 1552. The author (IIRC) was a priest who accompanied Spanish
invaders.


I have read parts of this. It's appalling how brutal the Europeans were.
For example, to coerce the men to work on plantations, they would round
up all the people in a village, using attack dogs & arson, and start
chopping off the women's hands & noses until the men agreed.

It's no wonder that when the next explorers came thru after DeSoto, the
Indians stayed as far away as they possibly could. Was the countryside
totally depopulated?

DSK