Norse-American Centennial

Empty Land Myth

The theory of the Empty Land Myth is that as Americans moved West during and after Manifest Destiny, the land was open for the taking and was unclaimed by other people. This was not true, however, and settlers would encounter Indigenous Americans during their pursuit of new territories. Often, these settlers would form their settlements on land that was either currently or previously claimed by Indigenous Americans tribes which had resided on that land for generations. These Indigenous Americans would often be forced off their lands as a result.

Betty Bergland, a historian who researches immigration and ethnic history, states, “The so-called ‘empty land theory’ also kept immigrants ignorant of mechanisms by which indigenous peoples lost their lands. In effect, most could and did ignore the complex structural elements of US federal power to extinguish Indian land title across the continent that made their settlements possible” (p. 22).

The Homestead Act of 1862

Several government bills directly affected Indigenous Americans including the Homestead Act of 1862. This act took lands previously owned by Indigenous Americans and gave them primarily to white settlers or corporations for farming, mining, railroads or other occupations found in the Midwest and beyond in the 1860s and into the 1900s. The Dawes Act of 1887 broke up Indigenous Americans lands further by dividing their lands between individual owners as opposed to a whole tribe owning a single, larger, piece of land, with the idea that they would become better farmers and contribute more to the American economy.

Dakota War of 1862

In several instances, the Indigenous Americans fought back against the American government. On August 17, after the US government fell behind on payments and deliveries of food, leaving the Dakota on the verge of starvation, a hunting party stole eggs from settlers in Acton Township, Minnesota. This led to the death of five settlers. At the end of September after a short lived war, the Dakota surrendered. As a result of the Dakota War of 1862, dozens of Indigenous Americans and settlers would be killed and the Dakota would be relocated from Minnesota to Iowa and the Dakotas. Similarly, during the Great Sioux War of 1876, Colonel G. A. Custer and his troops were defeated at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, but again, as a result of the conflict, Indigenous Americans were forced to give up land and were driven onto reservations. 

Sources to explore:
Norwegian migration and displaced indigenous peoples: Toward an understanding of Nordic whiteness in the land-taking by Betty A. Bergland in Nordic Whiteness and Migration to the USA

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