Even without this trickery, the imposition of strict systems of land ownership and boundaries undermined the way of life for some Native Americans. Indians in the Great Plains region, for example, relied on nomadic movement across vast tracts of land to hunt, following the migratory paths of bison. But in tracing these routes, they would now find themselves unknowingly trespassing on territory claimed by colonisers – the surveyor’s grid transformed into tripwires strung invisibly across their home.
