> I have imagined ... north america was sparsely populated (allowing endless bison) The "endless bison" in America was actually only during a relatively short

> I have imagined ... north america was sparsely populated (allowing endless bison) The "endless bison" in America was actually only during a relatively short period of time. IIRC there was a gap of almost a century between when the Native American population was decimated due to disease, and when settlers of European ancestry headed out west. During that gap the bison population exploded.