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Empire by Treaty: Negotiating European Expansion, 1600-1900

Online ISBN:
9780190213213
Print ISBN:
9780199391783
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Book

Empire by Treaty: Negotiating European Expansion, 1600-1900

Saliha Belmessous (ed.)
Saliha Belmessous
(ed.)

senior research fellow

University of New South Wales
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Published:
27 November 2014
Online ISBN:
9780190213213
Print ISBN:
9780199391783
Publisher:
Oxford University Press

Abstract

This book is part of an intellectual project aimed at including indigenous voices in the debate over European appropriation of overseas territories. It is concerned with European efforts to negotiate with indigenous peoples the cession of their sovereignty through treaties. To grasp the extent of European legal engagement with indigenous peoples, the book examines the history of treaty making in European empires (Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and British) from the early 17th to the late 19th century, that is, during both stages of European imperialism. While scholars have often dismissed treaties, assuming that they would have been fraudulent or unequal, this book argues that there was more to the practice of treaty making than mere commercial and political opportunism. Indeed treaty making was also promoted by Europeans as a more legitimate means of appropriating indigenous sovereignties and acquiring land than were conquest or occupation, and therefore as a way to reconcile expansion with moral and juridical legitimacy. As for indigenous peoples, they engaged in treaty making as a way to further their interests even if, on the whole, they gained far less than the Europeans and often less than they bargained for. The vexed history of treaty making presents particular challenges for the great expectations placed in treaties for the resolution of conflicts over indigenous rights in postcolonial societies. These hopes are held by both indigenous peoples and representatives of the post-colonial state and yet, both must come to terms with the complex and troubled history of treaty-making over 400 years of empire.

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