What is supposed to happen when a tribe gifts me a village?

[DagHammarskjol]

In my last game, once I started pumping liberty bells and my borders started expanding, native tribes started offering to give me villages as gifts. But when I accepted them, the village was simply gone, leaving a crowd of braves behind.

Do I get anything from this process?

 

[Elliot]

Not that I can tell. This is one of the weirdest features of the game IMO.

A positive though, is that your diplomacy penalty from "your way of life is threatening to us" that is associated with that village is removed. So paradoxically, increasing that penalty will eventually remove it.

 

[dalgo]

Do I get anything from this process?

You no longer have to pay for the land that village controlled when you build a new colony. It also removes a threat (the braves move away).

 

[Traitorfish]

It also allows you to work that tile; usually, if a village is within a city's immediate radius, the tile will be inaccessible.