Abstract
A new ethnohistorical model providing a relative measure for North American demography is discussed. This model correlates initial appearances and final disappearances of individuals identified by name in documentary records with significant demographic events. The model is tested by correlating terminal appearance-disappearance dates of 207 Munsee Indians identified by name in European records between 1630 and 1801 with contemporary wars, epidemics, land loss, and emigration. Disappearance of more than 50 percent of all named Munsees from colonial records between 1680 and 1715 reflects the catastrophic impact of two wars, four epidemics, extensive outmigration, and the loss of more than 70 percent of their homeland through land sales within the relatively brief span of thirty-five years.
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