JBUSC

Perspectives on the Land

White colonists saw land as property and a commodity to be possessed. As a result, as settlers grew in numbers and journeyed west, land was claimed and sold for profit. White colonists would “develop” the land and take ownership of it, believing the land was theirs to own. Indigenous peoples, on the other hand, saw themselves as connected with the land spiritually and that the land, instead owned them. Land to Aboriginal people is a major part of their identity and spirituality. They saw the land as being sacred and needing to be protected. Indigenous peoples believe it is their responsibility to take care of the land. As Marion Kickett states in her research, “Land is very important to Aboriginal people with the common belief of 'we don’t own the land, the land owns us'. Aboriginal people have always had a spiritual connection to their land..." These differing perspectives on land caused many disputes during the era of Manifest Destiny and as white settler populations began to increase and move into Indigenous peoples’ territory.

The Process of Mapping

The difference between boundaries and territories made by the White colonists and Indigenous people were vastly different. Maps made by White colonists were first based on populations, created territories based on the edges of civilization. After the creation of the United States government, state land was designated by Congress and intended to be given equally by latitude and longitudinal coordinates. The  ending of railroad tracks and crossings also designated the ending of one state to another, creating a fence-like boundary. In a special case, after the acquisition of the Louisiana Purchase, the United States had to decide between the territory where slavery was legal and where it was not. The Missouri Compromise was birthed as a result and a boundary line was created at the longitude and latitude lines of 36’30”. The states were documented by their coordinates and borders were made at the numbered locations. These numbered locations would stretch for miles and encompass all in that territory even if it belonged to Indigenous peoples’.United States lines were based off of technological boundaries and civilization, whereas Indigenous maps were created using the natural created landmarks.

Territory often ended at rivers, mountains, and hills or were defined by relationships between different tribes, resources, and trade networks. The relationships between tribes would determine the access to the land and its resources. Instead of the borders being hard edges like the United States’, border on Indigenous peoples’ lands were more fluid and would change based on marriages between chiefs and their family members, hunting clans, and heredity. In Indigenous maps the landmarks would be drawn on paper and in some cases described. Detailed knowledge of the thickness of ice, places of shelter and predators were placed in maps to inform the user for what to look for when in the territory.

(Discuss the taking of land as a result of mapping here)

Indigenous Counter Mapping

(Sources are still regathered and put together for this sections)

Sources

https://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/land/meaning-of-land-to-aboriginal-people

http://sharingculture.info/the-importance-of-land.html

https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2018/mar/06/counter-mapping-cartography-that-lets-the-powerless-speak

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-P4U5npRCg

https://www.wonderopolis.org/wonder/how-did-the-states-get-their-shapes

https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/indigenous-territory