Be kind rewind

MAOR219/HIST268/SOCI209/HSRV207/CULT219
Expansion of the British Empire
• Begins in 1497 and fails for the best part of 100 years according to
William Woodward (1902).
• Followed the successes of the Spanish colonies.
• The British expansion can be seen to be founded upon three things:
trade (commerce); religion and settlement.
• The expansion of the British Empire was less an extension of Britain
as it was the diasporic movement of British citizens and companies
who maintained a connection to the Motherland.
• It was disorganised and the Crown was often a reluctant partner.
• The colonies for the most part were self-serving, self-
governing and run by individuals, or companies, before
the Crown would claim a connection.
• Early colonies include Jamaica, the West Indies (the
Bermudas, Honduras etc.), British colonies in North
America (New England, Virginia, Maryland etc.), British
colonies in India, and other straights colonies such as
Penang and Singapore among others.
EUROPE AND THE DEVELOPING WORLD
The men responsible for mid-19th century policy saw Britain as pivotal
to the progress of humanity and superior to all others.
At this time it was assumed that British values would dominate the
world for centuries to come.
Because of this sense of self superiority, it was assumed by many
British of the period that any uninhabited country that was
discovered by English subjects would then be under English law.
Countries that were conquered or ceded, that may already have laws
of their own, may have such laws altered by the King. Until changed
by the King these ‘native’ laws were to remain intact.
Indigenous hierarchies and traditional leadership and political
institutions were largely ignored or deemed inappropriate for the
burgeoning world that was being ‘aided’ by the civil leadership of the
British.
The British Empire
 INFLUENCES SHAPING TREATY MAKING
Strategic Interest
Economic, political and military interests
Competing Foreign Interests
Treaties with indigenous peoples can block real or potential foreign
competitors.
Settlers
Organised independent settlers might threaten the future interests of
government.
Indigenous people
More favourable treaty:
-Trade depends upon indigenous co-operation.
-Settlers depend on indigenous peoples to survive.
-The indigenous population is numerous, democratically concentrated substantially
able to resist colonisation.
Less favourable or no treaty:
-If indigenous peoples are demographically dispersed and not well armed
-Trade and settlers do not depend on the indigenous population to survive.
• Large numbers of Māori
and a well armed
population made for
more favourable terms
with regard to treatment
by the British.
TYPES OF TREATIES/NON-TREATIES
 Friendship Treaty: Mutual recognition of sovereignty to facilitate trade (rather than
occupation or settlement). Confirms an area of interest and signals this to other Western
powers. Indigenous sovereignty and lands remain intact.
 Extra-territoriality: Often accompanied a FT. An official representative is appointed. Foreign
nationals often under the protection of the Western government e.g. Declaration of
Independence and Official British Resident in NZ (1835). Indigenous sovereignty and lands
remain intact.
 Treaty of Protection: Indigenous people retained domestic sovereignty over their own
affairs but surrendered sovereignty over foreign policy. Often derived from intra-regional
competition between Western powers e.g. Britain and Germany in Tonga, Samoa and Niue.
Domestic indigenous sovereignty and lands remain intact.
 Treaty of Cession (Sovereignty Exchange and Provisions over Land e.g. ToW): Sovereignty
of indigenous people recognised and ceded to Western power. Occurs where Western
power had important strategic interest. Systematic settlement and concomitant mechanism
for alienation of land follows.
 Treaty of Conquest: Often followed conflict between colonial power and indigenous
peoples, or between Western powers. Indigenous people retained limited rights e.g. US
Indian Treaties after 1763. Indigenous sovereignty expunged and land taken.
 Occupation without Treaty: Immediate priority exists and/or indigenous people are
demographically dispersed or weak. Rapid land loss.
COLONIAL SOVEREIGNTY (FULL EXERCISE OF SELF
DETERMINATION) EQUATIONS
 1. Not recognised. Some sort of priority applies and/or indigenous peoples weak. Australia.
 2. Expunged under conquest. Some sort of priority/conquest applies. North America post-
1763.
 3. Recognised and left intact. FT/ET/ToP – usually to facilitate trade. Many examples.
 4. Recognised and ceded as in NZ. Classic Treaty of Cession
 Origins in Spanish Colonial Policy
 Early Spanish interests in North America focused on trade rather than occupation.
 1550 and 1551 Spain recognised ‘indigenous authority’.
 In their view this facilitated stable trading relations (while reserving the right to reduce
Indians to slavery should they disrupt trade).
 Britain
 The British adopted and modified this c1600 to block competing interests in North America.
 The classic approach was to recognise ‘aboriginal sovereignty’ and ‘negotiate’ its cession.
 Level of Acceptability:
 -International Law – Accepted by Western powers.
 -Domestic - Acceptance by Western citizens.
 -The appearance of a cession is more important than reality on the ground.
COLONIAL LAND EQUATIONS
 1. No Treaty - Terra nullius
 View that land is empty. Applied when indigenous people in weak position.
 2. Treaty - Vacuum domicilium (wasteland)
 Indigenous ownership of land is restricted to dwellings, villages and cultivated land.
 Applied when indigenous people in weak position.
 3. Treaty - Pre-emption
 Recognition that indigenous peoples as first and current occupiers own all land (aboriginal, native,
customary title) including dwellings, villages, cultivated lands and all unoccupied land including forests,
mountains etc. Establishes a caveat that indigenous land can only be sold to the government who in turn on-
sell it to settlers. Main aims are to control settlers, block other foreign interests and establish government
control.
 Origin in Dutch Colonial Policy
 Early East Indian Dutch colonies in South East Asia came into conflict with other Europeans over land deals
with indigenous peoples. The Dutch government was required to intervene.
 To avoid a repeat of this in North America, the Dutch introduced ‘pre-emption’.
 Written deeds accompanied all Dutch land acquisitions.
 The English adopted the practice in 1633 after a dispute between Dutch and English settlers.
 Applied where there was competition between Western powers and/or where indigenous people relatively
strong.
 Terra Nullius
• Due to the nomadic
nature of Australia’s
indigenous population,
terra nullius had a
devastating affect on
the aboriginal people.
CONCLUSIONS

 1. The ToW is not unique. It follows the template laid down in

North America.
 2. The ToW was an expedient cost effective solution to a
number of issues.
 Britain had an increasing economic interest in New Zealand.
 The British faced potential competition from America and
France.
 Rapid private settlement by the New Zealand Company needed
to be controlled.
 Maori were in a strong demographic and military position.
 Early settlers were dependent upon Maori.
 3. The manner in which the Treaty was signed was legitimate to
the degree that it was accepted at both the international (by
European powers) and the domestic level (by settlers).
 4. In terms of colonial policy in 1840 what it meant to Maori on
the ground probably mattered much less.
Conclusions
 The British government finally realised that it was futile and
undesirable to keep Maori and settlers apart. British policy was to
develop trading further, encourage Maori to 'amalgamate' with
settler society, encourage Maori to continue their education under
the missionaries, and have them prosper with the settlers.
 Britain also needed legal authority to deal with British subjects. It
had only a limited ability to control settler activity, including land
transactions. The British government intended to guarantee Maori
land rights and was strongly influenced by new thinking about
systematic colonisation.
 Protecting Maori interests was seen as vital. British officials
thought it pointless to protect Maori by isolating them on reserves
when their culture was already damaged, it was assumed, by guns
and alcohol. Such reserves would be swept away by the settlers, as
they had been in the Americas and Australia. Colonisation in New
Zealand would be done differently, hence the Treaty promises.