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Article: Indian Land Cessions
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
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CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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INDIAN LAND CESSIONS
INDIAN LAND CESSIONS.
In colonial America, France, with relatively few settlers, showed little interest in land acquisition and generally utilized Native negotiating forms
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belts of wampum, Native-style councils, and formal alliances
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to accomplish their diplomatic goals. Spain and England were more formally legalistic, and more interested in acquiring land. They preferred written agreements and adopted Native forms to "seal" their bargains. The great example of this practice was the Covenant Chain between Great Britain and the Iroquois. The European-style treaties negotiated by Spain and England proved advantageous in producing documents that could be ...