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Interactive time-lapse map of the transfer of Native land between 1776 and 1887

50 points| DoreenMichele | 6 years ago |slate.com

26 comments

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[+] thisjustinm|6 years ago|reply
Highly recommend the book Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee which covers the last half of the 19th century time period and recounts the absolutely heartbreaking history of Native Americans going from having a reasonable amount of land, much of it useful, to having almost nothing after betrayal after betrayal by the US government. It’s unfortunate that this kind of treatment of indigenous peoples is so common around the world throughout history.
[+] cs702|6 years ago|reply
Most parts of the world have gone through similarly horrific waves of border expansion and contraction at the cost of human lives and cultures, going back to the beginning of civilization.

Take the borders of Europe, for example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UY9P0QSxlnI

I doubt the expansion of, say, the Roman Empire in what we now call Europe and Africa was any less violent than the expansion of the English-speaking world in what we now call North America.

Humankind's track record on this earth is full of atrocities.

[+] protomyth|6 years ago|reply
One big difference is Africa and Europe didn't have the one sided die-off from disease that North America did. Africa had sections that were quite dangerous for Europeans, and when Europeans had their plagues it was pretty universal.

If Africa had disease outbreaks like North America, then it would have probably gone the same way as North America, even more so really given the shorter distances.

[+] adamsea|6 years ago|reply
No doubt. That is why it is so important to acknowledge and critique the past, to work towards the present and the future being less atrocity-filled.
[+] elil17|6 years ago|reply
It seems ridiculous for Slate to call it the “transfer” of land - the map calls itself a map of the “Invasion of America,” a far more accurate title
[+] Zarkonnen|6 years ago|reply
Yeah, "transfer" is so... bloodless as to be a lie.
[+] ficklepickle|6 years ago|reply
Kind of sad to see all the rationalizations and what-aboutism going on here.

It is horrifying on a scale that most of us, fortunately, probably can't even appreciate.

How we continue to treat each other and our environment does not bode particularly well for humanity.

[+] Camillo|6 years ago|reply
The map's attribution link is to a site with the poignant (if anachronistic) title "Invasion of America".

If history is written by the victors, surely Americans are now the vanquished.

[+] csu|6 years ago|reply

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[+] aatharuv|6 years ago|reply
Theft would be more accurate.
[+] deogeo|6 years ago|reply
Conquest would be most accurate.
[+] thatoneuser|6 years ago|reply
It's sad af, but it's human nature. Same shit why we can't trust our grandparents to handle their own money when they get older. Some slimey fuck out there is willing to put them in a poor grave to make a buck.

At this point I just hope the natives eventually make it into the modern world better. Pretty much all there is to do :/

[+] ordu|6 years ago|reply
> It's sad af, but it's human nature.

Not it is not a nature, it is nurture.

One shouldn't use appellation to a nature in such a matters. Compare: rape is bad, but the sad thing it is in a male nature, isn't it? No, rape is bad and intolerable. It doesn't matter what male nature is, because male is perfectly capable to curb his impulses. If some is not, they should use some kind of medication.

It doesn't matter what the nature of human is, he is capable to be nice to natives, but he just do not want to, because profits are more desired.