Henry F. Dobyns

Henry Farmer Dobyns, Jr. (July 3, 1925 – June 21, 2009) was an anthropologist, author and researcher specializing in the ethnohistory and demography of native peoples in the American hemisphere.^[1] He is best known for his groundbreaking demographic research on the size of indigenous American populations before the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492.^[2][3] In 1966, Dobyns postulated a much larger pre-Columbian indigenous (Indian) population of the Americas, especially North America, than previous scholars. Dobyns believed that the Indian population of the United States and Canada was 9-12 million people in 1500 and was reduced by 90 percent in the 16th century by continent-wide epidemics of disease introduced by European explorers and settlers. His views were controversial but have been partially accepted by most anthropologists.