3 ms·

90% died from diseases. That's why it was so easy to settle North America. The socities collapsed before settlers even expanded westward. The diseases traveled

90% died from diseases. That's why it was so easy to settle North America. The socities collapsed before settlers even expanded westward. The diseases traveled much faster than European contact. That's why Europeans thought much of North America was wilderness. There were certainly acts of genocide (like Trail of Tears) and Indian Removal was a form of ethnic cleansing. But there was never an attempt or policy to kill Native Americans off. Plus a lot just blended into society. Intermarrying has always been common. Both on and off the reservations. Most native americans aren't full blooded anymore, but a mix of white and black too.

protomyth 11y ago
"But there was never an attempt or policy to kill Native Americans off." I see stuff like this and I cannot believe the total ignorance. I guess I'm going spend part of my night grabbing every damn reference to every government and private company policy that was specifically designed to kill Native Americans including some laws still on the books that included clause that you could kill any Native American if you were in a covered wagon or any group of 5 Native Americans that were gathered. Some, including MN's ban on all Dakota Indians, are still on the books. We'll ignore the whole, give Native Americans disease laden blankets and killing as many buffalo as possible so the plains tribes would starve. Its as bad as people quoting the US government general on how many Native Americans died during the Trail of Tears. I guess people like that believe other governments when they say how many people they killed. As to your last line.... that does not account for the loss.