Invariably genocide? When hunter-gatherers and commercial stock farmers clash

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe five century long process of European overseas conquest included many instances of the extermination of Indigenous peoples. Where commercial stock farmers invaded the lands of hunter-gatherers conflict was particularly destructive, often resulting in a degree of dispossession and slaughter that destroyed the ability of these societies to reproduce themselves biologically or culturally. The frequency with which encounters of this kind resulted in the complete, or near complete, annihilation of forager societies raises the question whether this form of colonial conflict was inherently genocidal. The focus of this article is on how the global economic system tended to bring together the practices of metropolitan and colonial governments, the interests of providers of capital and the consumers of commodities, and the agency of local actors ranging from military commanders to graziers in remote outposts in ways that fostered the violent dissolution of native society. It seeks to identify salient shared features in conflicts between hunter-gatherers and market-oriented stock farmers that served to intensify hostilities and tilt the balance toward genocidal outcomes.