CLASS XI.

HISTORY
BOOK
CH- 10. DISPLACING
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
RENAISSANCE 2.0 : NEW DAWN OF LEARNING
BY : SHIVANG BHARADWAJ
INTRODUCTION

• With the Spanish and Portuguese colonisation, areas of South America, North America, South Africa, Australia
and New Zealand saw large settlements of immigrants from Europe.
• The discovery of America and Australia is discussed widely, but there’s no reference to the people who originally
lived in those places before the explorers came there. With the immigrants coming to these places, the natives
were forced to move. These European settlements are called colonies. In recent times immigrants are a large
population living in those areas while the natives are almost nonexistent.
• Anthropologists from America studied these natives; later, these natives took the initiative to write their own
stories and histories.
• This chapter aims to shed light on the histories of the native people of America and Australia while discussing
other aspects.
EUROPEAN IMPERIALISM
• Imperialism is a policy of extending a country’s power and influence
through military force.
• The American empires of Spain and Portugal did not expand after the
17th century. Other countries, such as France, Holland, and Britain,
began to expand trade activities and establish colonies in America,
Africa, and Asia around the same time.
• In Ireland, landowners were mainly English settlers.
• Colonies were established due to the possibility of profit by
exploiting local resources and establishing control.
• East India Company, a trading company in South Asia, became a
political power by defeating local rulers and seizing control of their
territories. They collected taxes and constructed railways in those
areas to facilitate trade. European countries agreed to divide Africa
into colonies.
• The word settler is used for the Dutch (people of Netherlands) in
South Africa, the British in Ireland, New Zealand and Australia and
Europeans in America.
NORTH AMERICA
• North America is a continent. It extends from the Arctic Circle to the
tropic of cancer, from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean.
• Native people
• Native people are the ones who are born and raised in a particular
place.
• The first inhabitants of North America may have arrived from Asia
30000 years ago via a land bridge across the Bering Strait.
• Before the arrival of Europeans, they lived in groups along river
valleys. They ate fish and meat and grew vegetables and maize.
• They did not produce in surplus as they did not attempt extensive
agriculture.
• They were content with the food and shelter they got from the
land and did not feel the need to own it.
• Rare quarrels amongst tribes for territories can be seen, but
that was not an issue. Goods were acquired through gifts
rather than purchases.
• They spoke various languages, but none of them was written
down.
• They were initially friendly and welcoming to Europeans.
• In exchange for local products, Europeans gave those blankets,
iron vessels, guns, and alcohol.
• The natives became addicted to alcohol, which suited the
Europeans because it allowed them to dictate trade terms.
MUTUAL PERCEPTIONS
• Western Europeans defined "civilised" people in terms of literacy, organised religion, and urbanism in the 18th century.
• The natives appeared uncivilised to them. Few people admired them, including French philosopher Jean-Jacques
Rousseau, because they were oblivious to the advancements of civilisation.
• As gifts, the natives exchanged goods with the Europeans.
• But those goods were commodities to the Europeans, which they would sell for a profit in Europe.
• Because the prices of goods fluctuated year after year, the Europeans sometimes gave the natives a lot and sometimes
very little in exchange for their goods.
• The greed of Europeans bothered the natives. Several European traders left their native lands to settle in America.
• These Europeans belonged to a different Christian sect than those who had settled in Europe. They began to settle
down, and the demand for land grew.
• They gradually moved closer to the native villages, cutting down trees and establishing farms.
• Forests meant different things to natives than they did to Europeans. The native could identify tracks that were invisible
to Europeans' grey eyes.
• Europeans treated the land differently, and the landscape of America changed dramatically in the nineteenth century.
• Migrants from Britain and France attempted to buy land in America. They cleared land and planted crops. People from
all over came to buy land at low prices. Wild animals were killed on a large scale.
THE NATIVE The natives were forced to relocate as European settlements
expanded rapidly. They were forced to sign treaties to sell their land
PEOPLE LOSE at low prices. They were also tricked. The tribes were not
considered citizens by the settlers. There were native rebellions, but
THEIR LAND they were crushed by the US army.
GOLD RUSH

• There was always the possibility of finding gold in North America. In

the 1840s, gold traces were discovered in California, USA.
• This resulted in the gold rush, in which thousands of eager Europeans
rushed to America in the hope of striking it rich.
• This in turn resulted in the construction of railway lines across the
continent. Industries grew up to produce railway equipment.
• It developed machinery to facilitate large-scale farming.
• The creation of jobs resulted in the expansion of towns and factories.
• The United States was a poorly developed economy in 1860, but
within 30 years, it had become the world's leading industrial power.
CONSTITUTIONAL • The settlers had been rallying for democratic independence in the
1770s against the monarchs and their aristocrats. They wanted the
RIGHTS constitution to include an individual’s property rights that the
state could not override. However, both democratic rights (the
right to vote for representatives to congress and the president) and
property right were reserved for white men.
WINDS OF CHANGE

• Things did not improve for Native Americans and Canadians until the 1920s. White Americans sympathised with
the natives.
• The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 was implemented in the United States, giving natives the right to buy land
and take out loans.
• In the 1950s and 1960s, the US and Canadian governments considered ending all special programs for natives in
the hope that they would integrate into society. In Canada, the constitution act of 1982 accepted the existing
aboriginal and treaty rights of the natives.
AUSTRALIA

• Human habitation in Australia, like in America, has a long history.

• The aborigines (a member of the original people to inhabit an area,
especially as contrasted with an invading or colonising people) first
appeared on the continent over 40000 years ago.
• They came from New Guinea, and according to their customs, they
did not travel there because they were always present.
• In the late 18th century, there were approximately 350 to 750 native
communities in Australia.
• Captain cook discovered Australia. That marked the beginning of a
story that is strangely familiar to the story of America.
• Though the Australian story began 300 years earlier, with European
settlers coming to the land, their interactions with natives and the land
of Australia show similar happenings seen in America.
• Initially, there were reports of the natives being positive towards the captain and his crew. The killing of a captain
cook in Hawaii by a native was used by colonizers to justify the acts of violence they committed towards the
people.
• Little did these settlers know that nearly 90% of them would be exposed to germs, lose their land and resources, or
die fighting the settlers during the 19th and 20th centuries.
• Most of the early settlers here were British deported prisoners. These prisoners later lived as free people in the
same country.
• European settlement brought huge sheep farms and mining establishments. Natives were employed in these
places, but their working conditions were harsh.
Winds of change

• Things began to change in the twentieth century. The great Australian silence - The silence of the historians about
the aborigines, a lecture by anthropologist W.E.H.Stanner, electrified the audience.
• In 1974, white Australia’s policy ended. Asian immigrants were allowed to enter. Since then, multiculturalism has
been the official policy of Australia, which has given equal respect to the native cultures of immigrants from
Europe and Asia. In 1992 the Australian high court recognized the native claims to land from before 1770.
Important questions
Who were settlers?
Short
Who are the native Americans?
answers What is the gold rush
Who discovered Australia?
Write a note on European imperialism.
Long
Write about the life of native Americans.
answers How did the Europeans perceive the native Americans?
How did the advent of Europeans change the life in Australia?