How many Native American Indians got killed when the new settlers settled in America?

Question

I heard the number was something around 6 million? Can anyone give me a concrete answer? Thanks.

Answer 1

I don't think anyone could give a concrete answer as to how many eventually died. After all, North America was not just some empty continent waiting to be colonized. It was completely populated by Native Americans. There could have been more than 6 million. There could have been less. The reason we can't know more is because Native Americans were not part of the census, so no one counted them. The numbers that died from disease alone when the first Spanish explorers arrived was probably close to a million.

Answer 2

The primary problem was the difference in the conceptions of ownership of land. The First Americans tended to see land ownership as being held communally by the tribe, and even then, that sort of ownership was merely a range or territory. Other people could cross the land, even hunt the game, usually, as long as they were respectful and didn't do much damage. Many tribes were at least semi-nomadic, and so while they would plant corn, for example, that would also move around a good deal within their tribal range to hunt, fish and gather, all the while coming back periodically to tend the corn. The European Colonists, of course, came from a massively different culture where individual land ownership was seen as necessary to ensure the liberty of the individual. The European colonists were anything but nomadic, and so having set land boundries wasn't an issue. Initially, at least, the Europeans didn't simply steal land from the Indians. The Colonists were far too weak in terms of numbers to risk upsetting their "Indian" neighbors. They bought land from various chiefs for "wampum" which were belts of beads made from sea shells. However, again, cultural misunderstandings created problems. Many of the tribes shared overlapping ranges, and leadership of a tribe was often somewhat vague and diffuse. The result was that a Colonist might pay wampum to someone he thought was a chief for a tract of land, only to have members of the same tribe become upset and claim he had no right to the land. Later, as the Euro-Americans began their Westward expansion, the same issues casme up time and again. The Native Peoples were truly nomadic, and they were furious when Whites fenced off land. Conflict over land boundries and control of resources and access to areas the Natives felt were sacred places (like the Black Hills, for example) led to violent conflicts. Time and again, the US government made treaties with the Tribes, promising thjem peace and security if they would move the Tribe or confine the Tribe's range, and then, when gold or something was found on the new Treaty Lands (reservations), the US government would break the treaties, and when the "Inidans" resisted, the US Army would be sent in.

Answer 3

the words bother me=new settlers, native Americans: u have to c the world as with out a history book to understand true man and traveling in ancient times, they didn't hunt as wolf packs, and they were individuals and they were nomadic in a continents, no history can rightly attribute a location to a certain people because of the facts that history is relatively new part of understanding how a certain people were here or there. when you then of native i think of south American blood thirsty places that have a history of cannibalism and mass murder here in the early Americas, when waring tribes massacred an entire civilization before the white man ever sailed here, codex says they(Indians) killed 30,000 in asingle day and dumped them in a well and the fallowing week they did 45,000 more prisoner to die, the issues are misleading and dated to give a guilt trip to European exploration periods in time or times are unwritten as the pre dawn of time is also relevant to true unidentifiable people who were not organized like a union is in perception of today as your writing shows

Answer 4

your question is not very specific
i should think it is a lot more(nobody was counting boddies ,but whole tribes were wiped out) , are you including central America and south America ,it is all called America ,and all have Native Peoples,of whom many thousands were killed by settlers.

there must be a knowlegeble Native American around who can answer that

Answer 5

I doubt that there is a concrete or definite answer. No one was keeping count in those days. Indians did not keep written records.

Answer 6

I don't know if anyone was counting; however, many tribes were wiped out. History books are written from the whiteman's point of view so you won't find anything accurate there.

Answer 7

6 millions or more.

Answer 8

6mil is nrly correct there were not any statistics kept then. Some were slaughtered and a lrg # died fm whitemans diseases.

Answer 9

At least 7 miliions, I think.

Answer 10

lots and lots and lots and lots *continues on for about 5 minutes*. does that answer your quesstion?