History: it is normal for some groups to displace other groups and claim their land

 History, over the past 6000 years across regions like Western Asia, Europe, the Middle East, India, and Northern Africa, shows territorial conquest and displacement as a recurring pattern—roughly estimated at over 10,000 instances. The European settlement of the Americas, while devastating for Native Americans, fits into this broader human story of groups overcoming others, often violently, to claim land. 

Examples include the Roman conquests, Mongol invasions, Islamic expansions, and Mughal rule in India, among countless others. No group or region has been immune to this, including pre-Columbian Americas, where tribes like the Aztecs and Iroquois displaced rivals. Acknowledging the pain of Native American dispossession doesn’t negate this context: land has changed hands through force globally, repeatedly, long before and after the Americas were colonized.  Focusing on historical grievance alone risks missing the universal, messy reality of human migration and conflict.

Also:

It’s tough to pin down an exact number of instances where one group of American Indians displaced another over the 6000-year span, as pre-Columbian records are sparse and rely heavily on archaeology, oral traditions, and later historical accounts. However, displacement—through conquest, territorial expansion, or migration—was a recurring pattern in the Americas before European contact. Based on available evidence, it is estimated that 800–1500 significant instances of one American Indian group displacing another through conquest or territorial dominance..The number of significant instances is across North, Central, and South America, and focuses on documented or inferred cases of one group overtaking another’s land or resources through force or dominance.

Estimating Instances of Displacement

1. Archaeological and Historical Context:
   • The Americas were home to thousands of distinct indigenous groups over millennia, with estimates of 500–1000 tribes in North America alone at contact (ca. 1492 CE). Conflicts over hunting grounds, fertile land, or trade routes were common.
   • Major civilizations (e.g., Aztecs, Inca, Maya) and regional powers (e.g., Iroquois, Comanche) frequently expanded by subjugating neighbors, suggesting hundreds of displacement events.
   • Smaller-scale tribal conflicts, often unrecorded, likely numbered in the thousands over 6000 years, especially in resource-rich areas like the Great Plains or Mississippi Valley.
2. Key Examples of Displacement:
   • Mesoamerica:
     • The Olmec (ca. 1200–400 BCE) likely displaced smaller groups in Mexico’s Gulf Coast through cultural and military dominance.
     • The Toltecs (ca. 900–1100 CE) expanded over earlier groups in central Mexico, influencing or absorbing rivals.
     • The Aztecs (1325–1521 CE) conquered dozens of city-states in the Valley of Mexico and beyond, subjugating groups like the Tlaxcalans and Mixtecs. Their empire included ~400 tributary states, suggesting at least 100 distinct conquests.
     • The Maya city-states (ca. 250–900 CE) engaged in frequent wars, with cities like Tikal and Calakmul displacing rivals for dominance, potentially dozens of times.
   • South America:
     • The Inca Empire (ca. 1200–1533 CE) absorbed or displaced numerous Andean groups (e.g., Chavín, Wari, Chimú), with estimates of 50–100 major conquests across modern Peru, Bolivia, and Chile.
     • Earlier cultures like the Wari (ca. 600–1100 CE) and Tiwanaku (ca. 300–1000 CE) expanded over smaller tribes, likely displacing dozens of groups.
   • North America:
     • The Iroquois Confederacy (ca. 1142–1600 CE) expanded in the Northeast, displacing or absorbing tribes like the Huron, Erie, and Susquehannock, with ~20–30 documented conflicts.
     • The Comanche (ca. 1700–1800 CE) dominated the Southern Plains, pushing out Apache, Kiowa, and others through superior horsemanship and warfare, likely in 20–50 instances.
     • The Anasazi (ca. 100–1300 CE) in the Southwest may have displaced smaller groups during their expansion, though drought and migration complicate the picture.
     • Siouan-speaking tribes (e.g., Lakota, Dakota) migrated westward in the 17th–18th centuries, displacing groups like the Cheyenne and Crow in the Great Plains, with ~30–50 known conflicts.
     • Mississippian cultures (ca. 800–1500 CE), like Cahokia, likely displaced smaller tribes to control fertile river valleys, with estimates of 20–40 instances based on archaeological evidence.
   • Prehistoric Migrations:
     • Early migrations (e.g., Paleo-Indians, Archaic period) from 4000 BCE onward involved groups competing for prime hunting and gathering territories, potentially causing hundreds of unrecorded displacements.
     • Linguistic evidence suggests major language families (e.g., Algonquian, Athabascan) spread through migration and conquest, displacing earlier groups over millennia.
3. Rough Estimate:
   • Major civilizations (Aztec, Inca, Maya, etc.) account for ~200–300 documented conquests or displacements.
   • Regional powers (Iroquois, Comanche, etc.) add ~100–200 more.
   • Smaller tribal conflicts, inferred from archaeology and oral traditions, could conservatively number 500–1000 over 6000 years, given the diversity of groups and resource competition.
   • Total estimate: ~800–1500 significant instances of one American Indian group displacing another through conquest or territorial dominance. This is likely an undercount due to unrecorded events, especially before 1000 CE.

In addition:

The recurring pattern of one group conquering or displacing another, as seen in the estimated 10,000+ instances over 6000 years across Western Asia, Europe, Scandinavia, the Middle East, India, Northern Africa, and the Americas, can be explained by several "laws" or driving forces of history. These aren’t formal laws like in physics but rather observable principles rooted in human behavior, resource competition, and societal dynamics. Below, I’ll outline the key principles (or "laws") that explain this phenomenon, followed by bullet points summarizing the historical patterns that support them.

Laws of History Explaining Conquest and Displacement

1. Resource Competition: Humans compete for finite resources—land, water, food, wealth—driving conflict when scarcity or ambition outstrips supply. Stronger or more organized groups often seize territory to secure these.
2. Power Vacuum Principle: Weak or disorganized societies invite conquest by stronger neighbors, as power imbalances create opportunities for expansion.
3. Technological and Organizational Advantage: Groups with superior technology (e.g., bronze, iron, gunpowder) or organization (e.g., disciplined armies, bureaucracies) tend to dominate less advanced or fragmented rivals.
4. Cultural and Ideological Momentum: Belief systems—religious, nationalist, or imperialist—motivate conquest by justifying expansion as a divine or moral imperative.
5. Demographic Pressure: Population growth or migration pushes groups into new territories, often displacing existing inhabitants through force or assimilation.
6. Cycle of Retaliation and Ambition: Conquests breed resentment, leading to counter-conquests, while successful empires inspire further expansion until overreach or internal decay sets in.

Bullet Points of Historical Patterns Explaining Conquest and Displacement

• Resource-Driven Conflicts:
  • Fertile lands, like the Nile Valley or Indus River, attracted invaders (e.g., Hyksos in Egypt, Aryans in India) due to agricultural wealth.
  • Trade routes, such as the Silk Road or Mediterranean ports, spurred conquests by Assyrians, Persians, and Romans to control commerce.
• Exploitation of Weakness:
  • Fragmented city-states or tribes, like pre-Alexander Greece or pre-Islamic Arabia, fell to unified empires (Macedonians, Umayyads).
  • Collapsing empires, like Rome in the 5th century, invited invasions by Goths, Vandals, and others into Europe and North Africa.
• Technological/Organizational Edge:
  • Bronze Age Hittites and iron-using Assyrians overpowered less advanced neighbors in Western Asia.
  • Gunpowder and naval technology enabled European colonization of the Americas, India, and Africa, overwhelming indigenous groups like the Aztecs or Mughal successors.
• Ideological Justification:
  • Islamic conquests (7th-8th centuries) spread from Arabia to North Africa and Spain, driven by religious zeal.
  • European colonialism (16th-19th centuries) was framed as a "civilizing mission," displacing Native Americans and others.
• Demographic Shifts:
  • Bantu migrations in Africa (1000 BCE-1000 CE) displaced or assimilated smaller groups across sub-Saharan regions.
  • Germanic and Slavic migrations (4th-9th centuries) reshaped Europe, pushing out or absorbing Celtic and other tribes.
• Cycles of Conquest and Collapse:
  • Mongol invasions (13th century) conquered vast swathes of Asia and Europe, but their empire fragmented, allowing local reconquests.
  • Ottoman expansion into the Middle East and Europe (14th-17th centuries) eventually gave way to European counter-offensives and nationalist uprisings.
• Pre-Columbian Americas:
  • Aztecs and Incas built empires by subjugating neighboring tribes, showing conquest wasn’t unique to European arrival.
  • European diseases, like smallpox, decimated Native American populations, amplifying displacement by settlers.
• Universal Pattern:
  • No region was exempt: India saw Mauryan, Gupta, and Mughal conquests; Northern Africa faced Phoenician, Roman, and Arab takeovers; Scandinavia experienced Viking raids and later Christian consolidation.
  • Even "victims" of conquest, like the Mongols or Arabs, were often prior conquerors themselves, illustrating the cyclical nature of territorial control.

These principles and patterns show why the displacement of Native Americans by European settlers, while tragic, aligns with a broader human tendency to compete for land and power. History suggests no group holds territory indefinitely—control shifts with strength, opportunity, and circumstance.