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> lived in the local rivers long before our towns were even an idea

To be fair, the towns you're talking about are barely 200-300 years or so I presume? Most other towns in the world are probably older than those towns, and maybe even the fish if it's just 400 years ago :)

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To be fair the towns a North American might be talking about could easily date to 400 to 600 years ago at least - with signs of human occupation in the Great Lakes area going back 10-12,000 years before present, a good deal on the present lake floors.

Where I live on the West Coast any towns older than a couple hundred years are long gone, the people were killed or evicted from their land long ago. The existing towns are all new.

Towns are where people live, buildings come and go - Manitoulin Island, within the Great Lakes, still has the Wiikwemkoong First Nation unceded and occupied land, near to which French Jesuits set up a mission in 1648.

Probably not: you grossly underestimate the amount of urban growth and development worldwide since the industrial revolution.

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