Geography, Demography

1
Geography, Demography the Colonial Imperative
Terra Nullius/Tabula Rasa
2
Learning Objectives

• To study how the human occupation of British
  Columbia's landscape changed over time
• To examine some of the forces that shaped the
  human landscape
• To discuss how these changes have affected B.C.'s
  social, political, and cultural geography

3
Since Time Immemorial

• Indigenous peoples in B.C. had long-established
  tenure relationship with the land, as well as
  with their neighbouring nations

They developed economies that were relevant to
their physical, political, and social landscapes.
4
Terra Nullius the Myth of Empty Land

• Terra Nullius was one of the conditions under
  which European nations justified the
  appropriation and occupation of Indigenous
  territories worldwide
• Estimates of pre-contact Indigenous .populations
  are debated official figures estimate the
  total population to be 70,000 - 80,000
• Indigenous peoples maintain that the numbers were
  much higher.
• The colonials may have underestimated the
  Indigenous population of the NWC for several
  reasons
• a vested interest in the appropriation of
  Aboriginal land
• depopulation may have occurred just previous to
  contact
• Eurocentric relationship to land a blank slate
  on which to write a new history, society, culture

5
First Contact Vanishing Indians

• Harris posits that smallpox arrived before the
  Europeans did, decimating NWC cultures
• He argues that Plague broke out along the Strait
  of Georgia in 1782, wiping out 90-95 of the
  Indigenous populations
• Part of a pandemic that started in Central Mexico
  in 1779
• He estimates that B.C.s population would have
  been 200,000 - 50,000 living in the Strait of
  Georgia

6
Social Reorganization

• People had to re-organize around the near -
  genocidal effects of the epidemic
• Some people moved to nearby villages, or several
  neighbouring villages might amalgamate together
• Some survivors might have migrated into
  territories that were once occupied by others who
  had been wiped out by smallpox
• In many instances, there were not enough people
  left to engage in subsistence activities, and
  starvation would ensue the following winter
  (leading to further depopulation).

7
Reconfiguring the Human Landscape
1881 census shows big changes in the demography
of B.C.

• Indigenous people continue to settle in
  traditional patterns
• Also incorporating wage labour into their
  seasonal subsistence activities (commercial
• fishing, canning
• logging, mining)

8
Meanwhile, Back at the Fort...

• . During the early 1800's, British traders set up
  a series of Garrisons throughout the province.
• The garrisons have a tactical advantage a
  relatively small group of men could fend off a
  much larger attack party.
• These enclaves were geographically, politically,
  and socially isolated
• connected by a system of trade and communication,
  forming a colonial network
• Other foreign commercial interests expand,
  creating an infrastructure (transportation,
  communication, market economy) for the imported
  British culture.

9
Emerging Colonial Landscapes
1881 Indigenous people outnumber whites
Indigenous people gt50
of population

• Introduction of
• non-British
• Europeans and Asians
• White appears for 1st time as racial category
• Many garrisons
• are now towns, the centre in a
• core/periphery
• economy

10
Social, Cultural, and Political Reorganization

• Transplanted societies
• British and European immigrants began re-shaping
  their ethnic identities.
• In order to do this they construct the "other".
  Race and ethnicity were easily identifiable
  markers of difference.
• White is constructed as a conceptual/cultural
  space

11
Defining Civilization

• "Whites" were reconfiguring physical space,
  creating enclaves of "civilization" for
  themselves (urban areas)
• which were the centres of economic, political,
  and social
• power.
• the creation and administration of reserves was
  decided in these spaces
• non-white were marginalized in ghettos
  delineated by
• race, class, ethnicity
• economic spaces were determined by these
• same criteria
• the economic interests of the ruling class
• dictated the migration patterns of FN and
• non-white immigrants.
• Core/periphery economy dictated the demography
• of working-class communities (gendered spaces)