jaredfoglesmydad

jaredfoglesmydad t1_j7cci65 wrote

The French did this in the Great Lakes region around maybe 1740? They may have done the same along the Mississippi. Not that I really know but I’d suspect it was done to make up for the fact that they didn’t really have enough colonists to populate a lot of the areas they established trade networks in. I’m not sure where the practice came from though.

In terms of enforcement I think they mainly did it to “call dibs” before the English got there. Not that it really mattered when the Seven Years war broke out. That doesn’t answer your question but it’s all I got.

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