Lilmod, you are correct. As they did not have the concept of private ownership of land but only the usufruct the Indians thought that they were ripping off the Europeans by selling land that was not theirs. In any case, I recall a machloket in the Gemara regarding whether or not a gentile king may take another’s land but all agree that if he does he acquires it. This was Yiftach’s rebuttal to the King of Ammon.
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