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Assignment 10 - Displacing Indigenous Peoples. Textbook Q3. What did the frontier mean to the Americans? Ans.

The word "frontier" means a region at the edge of a settled area, especially in North American development. It is a transition zone where explorers, pioneers and settlers were arriving. That is, as pioneers moved into the "frontier zone", they were changed by the encounter. In the United States' in 1893, one change was that unlimited free land in this zone was available, and thus offered the psychological sense of unlimited opportunity. This, in turn, had many consequences such as optimism, future orientation, shedding of restraints due to land scarcity, and wastefulness of natural resources. Q4. Why was the history of Australian native peoples left out of history books? Ans. The Europeans did not realise the importance of the culture of the Aboriginals, so they did not take interest in the writing of their history. Smartskills Pg 37 Q2. Do you agree or disagree with Govt. policies which relocated Native Americans from their homeland reservations? Ans. Throughout the history of the United States, there have been many times when controversies arose about government policies; during the time of westward expansion, the issue of what to do about the Indians was such a controversy. During the time of President Andrew Jackson and for a period of time afterward, the U.S. government decided that it was necessary to take land away from the Indians, to give it to white settlers who were moving west. The Indians were removed to distant reservations, often on land that was nowhere nearly as good as where they had been living. Needless to say, Jackson's ambitious goals were seen by the Indians as an injustice. But most Americans agreed with Jackson that America needed to expand and they saw westward exploration, and the creation of new states, as a benefit. In a series of treaties, the U.S. government forced the Native Americans (then called Indians) to move to reservations in exchange for protection from attacks by white settlers. In addition, the Indians were supposed to be given a yearly payment that would include money in addition to food, livestock, household goods and farming tools. (Unfortunately there is evidence that many of the treaties were not adhered to. Once the Indians were relocated, they were often forgotten about.) The reason that was often given for putting Indians on reservations was that these places were created to reduce the potential for conflict. But the real reason was that the Indians were seen by most Americans as an obstacle to America's growth. Magazine and newspaper articles of that time showed

that many white people back then saw the Natives as uncivilized savages, who probably were better off on a reservation. There was little sympathy for them as a result of these beliefs. And when certain tribes tried to resist being relocated, this also reinforced the belief that the Indians needed to be conquered and put in a place where they could not be a danger. Little effort was made at that time to understand Indian culture or to try to find a fair solution to the situation. Hence, I do not completely agree or disagree with the policies of the time. They were seen as necessary by the Whites to modernise the area, however they proved extremely harmful to the native Indians. Pg 38 Q1. What do you understand by the term European Imperialism? Ans. The goal and result of imperialism was the creation of colonies politically submissive and economically profitable to their European metropoles. The age of European Imperialism peaked in the mid to late 1800s, when they controlled about 75 % of the world. Q2. What do you understand by the term Native? Who were the earliest inhabitants of North America? Ans. Native means belonging by birth to a people regarded as indigenous to a certain place, especially a preliterate people. The earliest inhabitants of North America were the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North America and their descendants, known commonly as the American Indians, Red Indians, or simply Native Indians or Natives.. Application of the term "Indian" originated with Christopher Columbus, who thought that he had arrived in the East Indies, while seeking Asia. Later, the Americas came to be known as the "West Indies," a name still used today to refer to the Caribbean. The use of the names "Indies" and "Indian" has served to imply some kind of racial or cultural unity for the aboriginal peoples of the Americas. Once created, the unified "Indian" was codified in law, religion, and politics. The unitary idea of "Indians" was not originally shared by indigenous peoples, but many over the last two centuries have embraced the identity. Q3. How did the Europeans define Civilised people? Explain with examples. Ans. In the eighteenth century, western Europeans defined civilised people in terms of literacy, an organised religion and urbanism. To them, the natives of America appeared uncivilised. To some, like the French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, such people were to be admired, as they were untouched by the corruptions of civilisation. A popular term was the noble savage. Some lines in a poem by the English poet William Wordsworth indicate another perspective. Throughout the period of Colonization and Imperialism, nations such as those within Europe and America were seen as "civilized" society whose primary function was to bring civilization to the "savage"

worlds of other nations, whose individuals were, for the most part, of color. These indigenous people were seen as savages because they lived a way of life and represented a mode of existence which was different than the established "norm" of Europe or America. These "savages" needed to be "civilized" by the refinement and perceived superiority of the West. The culture of India was in full flower when the Britishers took it upon themselves to civilise the nation. The Native Americans and the Australian Aboriginals too, were leading a lifestyle different to that of the Europeans settlers, and thus needed to be civilised. Q4. What was the Gold Rush and how did it lead to the growth of industries? Ans. In the 1840s, traces of gold were found in the USA, in California. This led to the Gold Rush, when thousands of eager Europeans hurried to America in the hope of making a quick fortune. This led to the building of railway lines across the continent, for which thousands of Chinese workers were recruited. The USAs railway was completed by 1870, that of Canada by 1885. The old nations creep on at a snails pace said Andrew Carnegie, a poor immigrant from Scotland who became one of the first millionaire industrialists in the USA, the Republic thunders on at the speed of an express. In North America, industries developed for very different reasons to manufacture railway equipment so that rapid transport could link distant places, and to produce machinery which would make largescale farming easier. Q5. What was The Great Australian Silence? How did it help to revive the culture and traditions of the Natives of Australia? Ans. In 1968, people were electrified by a lecture by the anthropologist W.E.H.Stanner, entitled The Great Australian Silence the silence of historians about the aborigines. From the 1970s, as was happening in North America, here was an eagerness to understand natives not as anthropological curiosities but as communities with distinct cultures, unique ways of understanding nature and climate, with a sense of community which had vast bodies of stories, textile and painting and carving skills, which should be understood and recorded and respected. Underlying it all was the urgent question which Henry Reynolds later articulated in a powerful book, Why Werent We Told? This condemned the practice of writing Australian history as though it had begun with Captain Cooks discovery. Since then, university departments have been instituted to study native cultures, galleries of native art have been added to art galleries, museums have been enlarged to incorporate dioramas and imaginatively designed rooms explaining native culture, and natives have begun writing their own life histories. This has been a wonderful effort. It has also occurred at a critical time, because if native cultures had remained ignored, by this time much of such cultures would have been forgotten. From 1974, multiculturalism has been official policy in Australia, which gave equal respect to native cultures and to the different cultures of the immigrants from Europe and Asia.

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