Introduction
Theme 6 – Displacing Indigenous Peoples opens Section IV, Towards Modernisation. The section introduction explains that two developments created the context for 'modernisation': the Industrial Revolution (Britain was the world's first industrial nation) and the political revolutions that turned subjects into citizens – the American Revolution (1776–81) and the French Revolution (1789–94). It also notes that European powers colonised parts of America, Asia and South Africa even before industrialisation, and that the settlers' bourgeois mentality made them buy and sell everything, including land and water – something the natives could not understand.
The theme itself tells the story of the native peoples of North America and Australia. From the eighteenth century, immigrants from Europe settled large parts of South, Central and North America, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, pushing native peoples into other areas. These European settlements were called 'colonies'; when they became independent of the European 'mother-country' they became states or countries. Today the native inhabitants are few, though many place-names come from native words (Ohio, Mississippi, Seattle in the USA, Saskatchewan in Canada, Wollongong and Parramatta in Australia).
Till the middle of the twentieth century, American and Australian textbooks described how Europeans 'discovered' these lands and hardly mentioned the native peoples except as hostile.
Anthropologists studied natives in America from the 1840s; from the 1960s natives were encouraged to write or dictate their own histories (oral history). The National Museum of the American Indian in the USA has been curated by American Indians themselves.
Key Themes & Events
1. European Imperialism
Spain and Portugal's American empires stopped expanding after the seventeenth century; France, Holland and England then set up trading posts and colonies in America, Africa and Asia. Ireland was virtually an English colony.In South Asia, trading companies like the East India Company became political powers, kept the older administrative system and collected taxes from landowners.In Africa, Europeans traded on the coast (except South Africa) and entered the interior only in the late nineteenth century, then divided Africa among themselves.'Settler' is used for the Dutch in South Africa, the British in Ireland, New Zealand and Australia, and Europeans in America. The official language was English (Canada also has French).Names given by Europeans: 'America' after the travels of Amerigo Vespucci; 'Canada' from kanata ('village' in Huron-Iroquois, heard by Jacques Cartier in 1535); 'Australia' from Latin austral ('south'); 'New Zealand' named by Tasman of Holland, who first sighted the islands in 1642.2. North America: The Native Peoples
North America stretches from the Arctic Circle to the Tropic of Cancer. Forty per cent of Canada is covered with forests.The earliest inhabitants came from Asia over 30,000 years ago on a land-bridge across the Bering Straits; during the last Ice Age 10,000 years ago they moved further south. The oldest artefact found in America – an arrow-point – is 11,000 years old. Population grew about 5,000 years ago when the climate stabilised.They lived in bands, in villages along river valleys, ate fish and meat, grew vegetables and maize, and hunted bison – killing only as many as they needed (horses, bought from Spanish settlers, made hunting easier from the seventeenth century).Since they produced no surplus, they did not build kingdoms or empires as in Central and South America. Control of land was not an issue; they did not feel a need to 'own' it. They made formal alliances and friendships and exchanged gifts (e.g. wampum belts of coloured shells exchanged after treaties).They spoke many unwritten languages, believed time moved in cycles, passed down origin stories orally, wove beautiful textiles and could 'read' the land.Terms: aborigine (Australian natives), American Indian/Amerindian, First Nations peoples (Canada; the Indians Act of 1876 used 'bands', from the 1980s 'nations'), indigenous, native American (now the common term), 'Red Indian' (from Columbus's mistake about India).3. Encounters with Europeans
The Hopi account (Lee Brown, 1986) of Spaniards arriving 'like turtles' in armour and dropping a trinket into an outstretched hand shows the native sense of betrayal.In the seventeenth century European traders found natives friendly and welcoming. Unlike the Spanish seeking gold, these traders wanted fish and furs, and natives helped them as expert hunters.Along the Mississippi, the French found natives holding regular gatherings to exchange crafts and food.Europeans gave blankets, iron vessels, guns and alcohol; natives became addicted to alcohol, which let Europeans dictate terms of trade. Europeans in turn acquired an addiction to tobacco.4. Mutual Perceptions
Eighteenth-century western Europeans defined 'civilised' by literacy, organised religion and urbanism; to them natives seemed 'uncivilised'.Rousseau admired them as untouched by civilisation – the 'noble savage'. Wordsworth thought people living close to nature had limited imagination and emotion. Neither had met a native American.Thomas Jefferson, third US President, spoke of natives in words that would cause an outcry today ('have justified extermination').Washington Irving, who had actually met natives, found them great mimics among themselves, and said white men treated them as little better than animals.To natives, exchanged goods were gifts; to Europeans, fish and furs were commodities sold for profit in Europe. Natives could not understand changing prices and were saddened by European greed – traders slaughtered hundreds of beavers.Settlers followed traders, many fleeing religious persecution (Protestants in Catholic countries or vice versa). They cut forests for farms; natives saw tracks in the forest, Europeans saw future cornfields. Jefferson's 'dream' was a country of small European farms.5. The Expansion of the USA and Canada
Both countries came into existence at the end of the eighteenth century, occupying only a fraction of today's land.The USA acquired land by purchase – the Louisiana Purchase (1803) from France and Alaska from Russia – and by war, winning much of the south from Mexico. Nobody asked the natives. As the western 'frontier' moved, natives were forced back.Immigrants – younger sons from Britain and France, then Germans, Swedes, Italians and Poles – cleared land and introduced rice and cotton; wolves and mountain lions were hunted to extinction; farms felt secure only with barbed wire (1873).In the hot south, plantation owners bought slaves from Africa. The northern states argued for abolition; the Civil War of 1861–65 was won by the abolitionists, but African Americans won civil liberties and an end to segregation only in the twentieth century.Canada's more urgent problem was the demand of French settlers for autonomy (Canada was won by Britain from France in 1763); it was solved in 1867 by organising Canada as a Confederation of autonomous states.6. The Native Peoples Lose their Land
Natives were induced or forced to sign treaties selling land at very low prices, and were often cheated.In Georgia, officials said the Cherokee – who had tried hardest to learn English and American ways – were governed by state laws but had no citizens' rights. In 1832, Chief Justice John Marshall ruled that the Cherokees were 'a distinct community, occupying its own territory in which the laws of Georgia had no force'.President Andrew Jackson refused to honour this judgment and ordered the army to evict the Cherokees to the Great American Desert. Of the 15,000 forced to go, over a quarter died on the 'Trail of Tears'.Land-takers justified it by calling natives lazy and not using land to the maximum; the prairies were cleared and bison killed ('Primitive man will disappear with the primitive animal').Natives were pushed west into small areas called 'reservations' and moved again if lead, gold or oil was found. The US army crushed rebellions from 1865 to 1890; in Canada the Metis (people of native–European descent) revolted between 1869 and 1885.In 1854, Chief Seattle replied to the US President's offer to buy land: 'How can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land?... Every part of the earth is sacred to my people.'Population data (Activity 2): USA 1820 – natives 0.6 million out of 11.6 million; Spanish America 1800 – natives 7.5 million out of 16.9 million.7. The Gold Rush and the Growth of Industries
Traces of gold in California in the 1840s led to the Gold Rush, the building of transcontinental railways (with thousands of Chinese workers) – the USA's completed by 1870, Canada's by 1885.Industries in North America grew to make railway equipment and farm machinery – unlike England, where they grew as small peasants lost land.The USA was undeveloped in 1860 but the leading industrial power by 1890. By 1890 the bison was almost exterminated; in 1892 continental expansion was complete and the 'frontier' ended. Soon the USA set up colonies in Hawaii and the Philippines.8. Constitutional Rights and the Winds of Change (North America)
The US constitution guaranteed democratic rights and the 'right to property' – but only for white men. Daniel Paul (2000) noted that Thomas Paine used Indians as models of how society might be organised.The Meriam survey, The Problem of Indian Administration (1928), exposed poor health and education on reservations. The Indian Reorganisation Act of 1934 gave natives on reservations the right to buy land and take loans.In the 1950s–60s governments wanted natives to 'join the mainstream'. In the Declaration of Indian Rights (1954), natives accepted US citizenship on condition that reservations and traditions were left alone. In Canada, the government said in 1969 it would 'not recognise aboriginal rights'; after protests, the Constitution Act of 1982 accepted existing aboriginal and treaty rights.9. Australia
Aborigines began arriving over 40,000 years ago from New Guinea; in their tradition they had always been there – the 'Dreamtime' blurs past and present.In the late eighteenth century there were 350–750 native communities, each with its own language (about 200 languages still spoken). The Torres Strait Islanders in the north are a separate group. Together they were 2.4 per cent of Australia's population in 2005.Europeans: 1606 Dutch sight Australia; 1642 Tasman lands on Tasmania; 1770 James Cook reaches Botany Bay; 1788 British penal colony formed, Sydney founded.Cook's crew first reported natives as friendly, but after Cook was killed by a native in Hawaii, colonisers used this single incident to justify violence.Nearly 90 per cent of natives died in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries from germs, loss of land and battles. Most early settlers were convicts who stayed on after their terms and ejected natives from land.Development: 1850 self-government; 1851 Chinese coolie immigration (stopped in 1855); 1851–1961 gold rushes; 1901 Federation of six states; 1911 Canberra (kamberra = 'meeting place') chosen as capital (one proposed name: Woolwheatgold); 1948–75 two million Europeans migrate. Sheep farms, mining, vineyards and wheat were the basis of prosperity. Natives worked in near-slavery; a policy kept 'non-white' people out till 1974.10. The Winds of Change (Australia)
1968: anthropologist W.E.H. Stanner's lecture 'The Great Australian Silence' – historians' silence about aborigines. Henry Reynolds later asked, Why Weren't We Told?From the 1970s natives were understood as communities with distinct cultures; university departments, art galleries and museums and native life histories followed. From 1974, multiculturalism became official policy.Poet Judith Wright (1915–2000) championed aboriginal rights ('Two Dreamtimes').Australia, unlike the USA, Canada and New Zealand, had no treaties with natives; the land was called *terra nullius* (belonging to nobody). Children of mixed blood were forcibly separated from native relatives.1974 'White Australia' policy ends; 1992 High Court's Mabo case declares terra nullius invalid and recognises native land claims from before 1770; 1995 National Enquiry into separation of children; 26 May 1999 'National Sorry Day'.Timeline
1497 John Cabot reaches Newfoundland1534 Jacques Cartier travels down the St Lawrence river1607 British found Virginia; 1608 French found Quebec; 1620 British found Plymouth1763 Quebec conquered by the British1781 Britain recognises the USA; 1783 British give the Mid-West to the USA1788 First convicts to Botany Bay; Sydney founded1803 Louisiana Purchase1825–58 Natives in the USA moved to reserves1832 Justice Marshall's judgement1849 American Gold Rush; 1859 Canada Gold Rush1861–65 American Civil War1865–90 American Indian Wars1867 Confederation of Canada1869–85 Red River Rebellion by the Metis1876 Canada Indians Act1890 Bison almost exterminated; 1892 'End' of the American frontier1901 Federation of Australia; 1911 Canberra chosen1928 Meriam survey; 1934 Indian Reorganisation Act1974 'White Australia' policy ends; multiculturalism1982 Canada Constitution Act recognises aboriginal rights1992 Mabo case; 1999 National Sorry DaySources & Historians' Debates
The chapter contrasts European-centred 'discovery' histories with oral histories and native-written works.Primary voices: Lee Brown's Hopi story, Chief Seattle's letter, Washington Irving, Jefferson, Rousseau's 'noble savage', Marx on the American frontier as 'the last positive capitalist utopia', and Howard Spodek's view that for natives the American Revolution turned expansion into contraction and liberty into confinement (Activity 3).Australian historiography: Stanner and Reynolds broke the 'Great Australian Silence'.Exam Focus
The chapter's exercises ask about differences between native peoples of South and North America; English economic and social features in nineteenth-century USA; what the 'frontier' meant to Americans; why Australian native history was left out of books; how satisfactory museum displays are; and an imagined 1880 conversation in California.
Answer outline – What did the 'frontier' mean to the Americans?
A shifting western boundary of settlement that pulled European settlers west for decades.Land acquired by purchase (Louisiana, Alaska) and war (Mexico), without natives' consent; natives pushed back into reservations.Opportunity for land, farms, gold and railways; ended in 1892 when expansion was complete; soon the USA became an imperial power.Answer outline – Why was Australian native history left out of history books?
Histories began with Captain Cook's 'discovery'; land treated as terra nullius.Natives seen as primitive, 'dying out'; policies kept 'white' and 'coloured' apart.Change from 1968 (Stanner's 'Great Australian Silence'), Reynolds, multiculturalism from 1974, Mabo (1992), Sorry Day (1999).Answer outline – Differences between native peoples of South and North America
South/Central America produced surpluses and built kingdoms and empires; North American natives did not, living in bands and villages.North Americans did not seek to own land, exchanged gifts, hunted only as needed; Spanish in South America sought gold, while traders in the north sought fish and furs.Key Terms
Indigenous – belonging naturally to a place (मूल निवासी)Settler colony – colony settled by Europeans (बसने वालों का उपनिवेश)Reservation – small area where natives were confined (आरक्षित क्षेत्र)Frontier – shifting edge of settlement (सीमांत)Trail of Tears – forced Cherokee march, 1838 (आँसुओं की राह)Noble savage – Rousseau-era romantic image of natives (उदात्त जंगली)Wampum belt – shell belt exchanged after treaties (वैम्पम पट्टा)Metis – people of native–European descent in Canada (मेटिस)First Nations – organised native groups recognised in Canada (प्रथम राष्ट्र)Dreamtime – aboriginal idea blurring past and present (स्वप्नकाल)Terra nullius – 'land belonging to nobody' (किसी की नहीं भूमि)Oral history – history told by the people themselves (मौखिक इतिहास)Multiculturalism – equal respect for all cultures (बहुसंस्कृतिवाद)Gold Rush – rush of fortune-seekers to gold fields (स्वर्ण-दौड़)Anthropology – study of human societies (मानवविज्ञान)Common Mistakes
Saying the natives crossed from Asia 10,000 years ago – they came over 30,000 years ago; 10,000 years ago they moved further south.Thinking the Supreme Court ordered the Cherokee removal – Marshall's 1832 judgment protected them; Jackson refused to honour it.Confusing the dates: US railway completed by 1870, Canada's by 1885; frontier 'ended' in 1892.Treating Rousseau and Wordsworth as eyewitnesses – neither had met a native American; Washington Irving had.Forgetting that Australia, unlike the USA, Canada and New Zealand, signed no treaties with natives (terra nullius).Writing that multiculturalism began in 1992 – it began in 1974; 1992 was the Mabo judgment.