The Invasion of America
- 9 years ago
How the West was stolen: Scale of Native American dispossession revealed in striking time-lapse video.Settlers conquered 1.5 billion acres between 1776 and 1887 from Indians.The devastating invasion of Native American land that bulldozed the indigenous population into relative insignificance has been visualized in a striking time-lapse map.
Between 1776 and 1887, white conquerors razed across 1.5 billion acres of occupied land, claiming it for their own.By 1800, Native Americans only accounted for 15 per cent of the nation, compared to the settlers' 85.A survey taken in 1900 showed the Indians to make up just 0.5 per cent of the United States population.
It is a history that many claim to be ignored by the majority of non-indigenous Americans, who focus on the lives lost during the Civil War and European atrocities of the 19th century.
Attempting to bring the scale of land and lives lost, Dr Claudio Saunt, of the University of Georgia, created a YouTube video mapping the dispossession. The video shows how settlers started their onslaught in 1776 from the East Coast and through the center - Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas.It was a gradual process: by 1860, there was still a significant faction of indigenous land across the west half of the country.In 20 years, that was almost entirely annihilated.Dr Saunt explains the 'rapid and murderous' sweep by quoting California's first governor John Sutter:
'That a war of extermination will continue to be waged between races, until the Indian race becomes extinct, must be expected,' Sutter said in 1851.
Between 1776 and 1887, white conquerors razed across 1.5 billion acres of occupied land, claiming it for their own.By 1800, Native Americans only accounted for 15 per cent of the nation, compared to the settlers' 85.A survey taken in 1900 showed the Indians to make up just 0.5 per cent of the United States population.
It is a history that many claim to be ignored by the majority of non-indigenous Americans, who focus on the lives lost during the Civil War and European atrocities of the 19th century.
Attempting to bring the scale of land and lives lost, Dr Claudio Saunt, of the University of Georgia, created a YouTube video mapping the dispossession. The video shows how settlers started their onslaught in 1776 from the East Coast and through the center - Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas.It was a gradual process: by 1860, there was still a significant faction of indigenous land across the west half of the country.In 20 years, that was almost entirely annihilated.Dr Saunt explains the 'rapid and murderous' sweep by quoting California's first governor John Sutter:
'That a war of extermination will continue to be waged between races, until the Indian race becomes extinct, must be expected,' Sutter said in 1851.