Comparative Essay Example: Experience of the Native Americans and the Indigenous Australians

The experiences of the Native Americans and Indigenous Australians were very similar. Both were affected by disease, violence, and removal from traditional lands due to their lands being colonised by the Europeans. Invasions of North America began with the Spanish in 1565, then the British establishes the first settlement in 1587. Australia was first discovered by the British in 1770 but the colonisation commenced in 1788 with the First Fleet.

The Native Americans and European settlers had clashing views on the use of resources. This resulted in many battles, the spread of disease, and forced removal. A well – known battle between the Natives and settlers is the Red Cloud Battle. The Red Cloud battle occurred due to the settlers disregarding the peace treaty that had been set in place. The Native Americans won this battle, and a new treaty was established. However, they did not win many battles, and the battles they lost resulted in forced removal. The Trail of Tears was the path the Cherokee people took to reach the reserve they were removed to. The settlers found gold on Cherokee land and once again broke the treaty. They were so determined to get the gold that they moved the Cherokee community to a reserve 8114km away. At least 3,000 Native Americans died on the Trail of Tears due to harsh weather, illness, and famine. Another big reason the Native American’s population decreased was because of disease, especially smallpox. Around 30% of the Native American population died from it in the first few years of colonisation. The reason diseases like smallpox effected the Native Americans so much is because they had never come into contact with these diseases before, meaning they had little to no immunity to it. Overall, thousands of innocent Native Americans were killed as a result of the British settlers. However, the British did not only colonise America.

The Indigenous Australians were also invaded by the British. The main problems that arose were the settler’s acquisition of Indigenous lands, frontier battles, and the introduction of new diseases. Dispossession occurred due to the expansion of the British settlements throughout the late 1700’s. Thousands of Indigenous Australians were forced to move away from their traditional land so the settlers could expand their colony. Moving away from tradition land effected the mental health of many Indigenous people as they felt disconnected from their culture. Many even turned to alcohol to cope with their depression. However, it was not only land that was stolen. The policy of assimilation was set in place to ‘breed out’ the Indigenous population by creating generations of bi-racial kids in the hope the white blood would ‘take over’. The Indigenous people chosen to participate in this were forced to adopt the European customs, beliefs, and values. The assimilation policy ended in 1979, yet the kids taken to perform this policy will live on as the stolen generation.

Overall, the experiences of the Native Americans and Indigenous Australians were very similar. Both populations were substantially decreased due to diseases, forced removal, battles, and isolation from traditional culture. Both the Native Americans and Indigenous Australians were seen as having ‘an inferior way of life’ to the British and ultimately the way the European settlers treated them was unjust and unfair. It ended up having a lasting imprint with the impact still being seen to this day.