It is nearly impossible to determine the american population b4 columbus... because?

Question

It is nearly impossible to determine the american population b4 christopher columbus-but that is not the real issue in the pre-columbian debate- the issue is....

a) the indians were to primitive to sustain a large population?

b)historians disagreed on the method to count the indians

c)consequences of european settlement on western hemisphere.

can someone please help me!! thanks!

Answer 1

...because there was no one around to conduct a census. Historians can guesstimate based on archeological evidence, but that's about it.

Answer 2

I would think b; that the location and populations were too uncertain.  Thus, historians disagreed, and of course there were no censuses.

Answer 3

The real issue is the consequences of European settlement on the western hemisphere. The actual numbers aren't the most important thing, but how and why they died is.