Displacing Indigenous Peoples Class 11 Notes History Chapter 6 - CBSE

Chapter : 6

What Are Displacing Indigenous Peoples ?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jd942zAMB652gkaHtIIZe22LBo6fxeNt/view

The East India Company was created for the purpose of expanding the trading activities of the Britain by utilising the economic resources of other nations.
The continent of North America is very vast. It extends from the Arctic Circle to the Tropic of Cancer and from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean.
The western part of the continent has the chain of rocky mountains and the desert of Arizona and Nevada. The east of the continent contains Great plains, the Great Lakes, the large valleys of Mississippi and the range of Appallachian mountains.
The South of the continent is covered with the nation of Mexico. To the north is the region of Canada whose forty percent territory is covered with the forests.
The nations like America and Canada has vast resources of oil, natural gas and mineral resources. Due to good
availability of the important resources like oil and natural gas large number of large scale industries are located in America and Canada.
The crops like wheat and corn are grown extensively in these regions. Another important industry of Canada is fishing.
According of the historians the earliest inhabitants of America came from the Asian continent. The people of the Asian continent crossed the land bridge across the Bering Strait around 30,000 years ago to reach the American continent.
Around 10,000 years ago during the Ice Age that the original inhabitants reached the Southern region of the
American continent.
The land was used for the purpose of agriculture by the native tribes in America. The agricultural activities was
performed not for the commercial purposes but only to satisfy the needs of a family or community.
There was no major conflict between the tribes on the issue of ownership of land as the tribes were content with the food and shelter and did not desired to own lands.
The people of the tribes were skilled craftsmen and wove some of the most beautiful textiles. They had great knowledge about their geography especially about their land. They were familiar with the climates as well as the landscapes.
There were several social, political, economic and religious reasons that led to the rise in the influx of the
Europeans in America: The earliest Europeans came to the America generally for the purpose of trade to make economic profits and live a lavish lifestyle.
In the seventeenth century the Europe was observing a religious war against the growing prominence of the
Protestantism. Many of the people belonging to this sect were persecuted. Many of the Catholics living in the
European nations fled to America to save themselves and start a new life for themselves. This led to the large
migration of the Europeans to the America and they became a dominant community over there which led to
the struggle with the natives in the long run.
The Europeans used to acquire the local products from the native tribes especially the handicrafts. They also
adopted the habit of using the tobacco from the native tribes.
On the other hand the Europeans gave blankets, clay pots, iron objects, guns and alcohol to the natives. The natives did not consume the alcohol before it was introduced to them by the Europeans.
The use of alcohol by the natives favoured the British as it helped them to dictate the terms of the trade.
The Europeans led to the cutting down of the forests with their iron tools for the purpose of establishment of farms.
The forests were replaced by the cornfield and slowly the establishment of the large plantations took place
which required the service of labours in large numbers. This practice of clearing the forests at large scale led to the rise in the conflicts between the natives and the Europeans because forests were seen as the source of livelihood for the Europeans.
The climate of the South American territories was hot for the Europeans and even the native slaves could find
it difficult to work on these lands due to which huge requirement of the workers on the plantations led to the beginning of the slave trade.
Slaves were brought from Africa and were made to work in the plantations. The slaves from Africa had high
tolerance of the heat and was also physically strong and could work efficiently in the farms.
USA became independent in the 1780s. After independence it started its drive for expansionism. The expansion of USA took place into several phases. At the time of its independence it comprised only of thirteen colonies. Gradually it acquired territories through various means.
The USA acquired several large territories through the medium of purchases. Two of the famous purchases of the USA was the Purchase of Louisiana from the France in the year 1803. They also purchased the land of Alaska from the Russians. Most of the southern states of USA was acquired by them by defeating the Mexico in the American Mexico War of 1848.
In the western regions the USA made rapid expansion that led to the displacement of the native tribes at a significant level. However, the government was not concerned enough about their displacement.
The Southern States of the USA had large plantations and was highly dependent on the slaves for farming purposes. The Northern States of the USA were however not economically dependent on the plantations as
they made significant progress in the industrialisation. The Northern States considered the act of slavery as an inhumane practice and became vocal about its abolition.
There was several efforts to bring compromise between the Northern and Southern states. However, all the
compromises failed in the long run. Finally the southern states seceded from the Union that led to the beginning of the Civil war in USA which lasted from year 1861 to 1865.
The practice of slavery was abolished in the year 1865. However, this did not ended the practice of discrimination towards the Africans-Americans. The African-Americans had limited civil liberties and they faced discrimination in their voting rights, educational as well as cultural rights.
The native people were forced to sign treaties with the government to sell their land and move to different isolated areas. On many occasions the natives were cheated with their land. They were paid less than the value of their land and were forced to accept the agreements. On many occasions the settlers also made use of the force and frivolous contracts to deprive the native people of their land.
The reservations were the areas in which the displaced American Indian tribes were forced to settle. These areas had lot of restrictions and the tribes did not enjoy much freedom in these areas. Also these areas lacked availability of the resources.
Sometimes two or more tribes were sent to these reservations and forced to live together. This lead to conflicts and quarrels as there were differences in customs and traditions.
Cherokee was a major tribe living in the state of the Georgia.The Georgian state officials made a declaration that the Cherokee tribe is bound with the state laws of Georgia and had to act according to the laws.
However, the officials denied the members of the tribe to be eligible to become citizens of the state.
In the year 1832 the Chief Justice of USA, John Marshall made a declaration and held Cherokee as a special tribe and held that the Georgian authority has no right over them and their community.
This decision was not respected by the American President Andrew Jackson and he ordered the eviction of the Cherokee tribes and send them to the Great American desert.
In the 1840s the earliest traces of gold was found in the region of California. The news of evidence of gold in California reached the wide corners of America as well as people in Europe due to which thousands of people from these regions rushed towards the region of California to make them a good fortune. These event was known as the gold rush.
The large scale migration of the people led to the development of railways at a significant pace. Thousands of Chinese workers came to USA and got employment in laying the railway tracks.
Some of the poor people who travelled from Europe during the gold rush became some of the most famous
industrialist and richest men in America. One prime example of that was Andrew Carnegie.
There were several reasons that led to the beginning of the industrial revolution in America. There was rising
need for the production of the railway equipments and the machinery for the large scale farming. This led to the setup of the large scale industries.
The industrial towns began growing in the USA and from a state of unindustrialised nation in 1860, USA became the leading industrial power of the world.