This
paper examines the Aborigines of Australia who are said to have arrived on the
continent over 50,000 years ago, blending into the already existent
population and thus creating perhaps the most physically diverse population in the world. This paper details the differences in conceptions of
land ownership between the Australian Aborigines and European colonists. The writer of this paper describes how the Aborigines had developed their own society,
culture and rules for land ownership which were inexcusably overlooked by the European invaders. When Europe began to encroach upon the territories of the Aborigines, the latter group simply adapted resourcefully and made new claims. This paper explores the various countries and nations that
laid claim to Australia, including the Dutch, British and Spain While the Aborigines claimed Australia through ancestral travels, the Dutch and British justified their possession by initial landing rights and the Spanish laid their claim based on religious doctrine. The British extended their claim to the entire continent by 1826 with the stroke of a legislative pen. This writer of this paper describes how the
conflict was furthermore exacerbated by the fact that Aborigines and Europeans had differing conceptions of private property.
More summaries about the Australian Land: Aborigines vs. Europeans