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French and Indian War, a la Shmoop. My land is not your land.

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Almost a quarter-century before the Revolutionary War...

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...England and France disagreed over who owned most of Ohio,

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as well as parts of what is now Canada.

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What's that a-boot, eh?

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Of course, Native Americans had already been in the area for a very, very long time...

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...a fact that was almost universally ignored by Europeans and colonists alike.

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Back in those days, there was a pretty big race to claim land in the "new world"

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for European powers.

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Since the Native Americans saw themselves as sharing land, and had therefore not formed

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actual boundaries... ...the English, French, Spanish, Russians

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and Dutch... ... decided this land was basically up for grabs.

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So, what gives any nation or group of people a true claim to land?

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Is it mostly just about who gets there first and settles the area?

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In other words: "Finders keepers, losers weepers."

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Or should different groups of people work together to live in harmony and co-govern...

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...without fighting over who has more of a "right" to the land?

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Or does might simply make right?

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Do you think that whoever conquers an area deserves to rule it?

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A scary thought, but plenty of people throughout the course of history have lived by the latter philosophy.

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International disputes about land ownership can be difficult to resolve... and by "difficult to resolve" we mean

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like trying to solve a Rubik's cube blindfolded. With your feet.

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Unfortunately, military conflict, and the resulting loss of lives, is not an uncommon development.

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So, how would you address a disagreement over

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land ownership between different nations or groups of people?

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Is there a way to be fair to everybody involved and make sure you keep the peace?

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Or are violent conflicts over land sadly unavoidable?

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Shmoop amongst yourselves.

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