Treaties transferred sovereignty over regions their signatories did not physically occupy.

Evidence

By negotiating treaties, nations surrendered the exclusive right to acquire territory from the Indians, not just land they physically held. At the conclusion of the French and Indian War, France ceded all its territories east of the Mississippi (like Canada) to Great Britain, while Great Britain ceded its claims west of the river to France. Spain also ceded Florida to Britain. These diplomatic exchanges transferred sovereign claims over entire regions, even though, as Marshall notes, “a great and valuable part” of these lands were occupied by Native Americans. — Wikipedia contributors, Johnson v. McIntosh, 13

Categorization

• SHARE: A choice fact for the treaty-law or colonial-history nerd: France ceding ‘Canada’ to Britain while swapping claims west of the Mississippi.