Settler: Historical Usage
Settler: Historical Usage
Settler: Historical Usage
Historical usage
One can witness how settlers very often occupied land previously residents to
long-established peoples, designated as Indigenous (also called "natives",
"Aborigines" or, in the Americas, "Indians").
The word "settler" was not originally usually used in relation to a variety of
peoples who became a part of settler societies, such as enslaved Africans
(e.g. in the United States), indentured labourers (such as in Colonial
America),[5] or convicts (such as in British America, c. 1615–1775; Australia
1788-1868).
In the figurative usage, a "person who goes first or does something first" also
applies to the American English use of "pioneer" to refer to a settler—a person
who has migrated to a less occupied area and established permanent
residence there, often to colonize the area; as first recorded in English in
1605.[6] In United States history it refers to Europeans who were part of
settling new lands on Indigenous territories. In Canada, the term 'settler' is
currently used to describe people of non-Indigenous descent. It is not a
personal or individual value judgment, but a description of a particular social
position.[7]
In this usage, pioneers are usually among the first to an area, whereas settlers
can arrive after first settlement and join others in the process of human
settlement. This correlates with the work of military pioneers who were
tasked with construction of camps before the main body of troops would
arrive at the designated campsite.
Anthropological usage
Modern usage
In the Middle East, there are a number of references to various squatter and
specific policies referred as "settler". Among those:
Iraq – the Arabization program of the Ba'ath Party in the late 1970s in North
Iraq, which aimed at settling Arab populations instead of Kurds following the
Second Iraqi-Kurdish War.
Israel – Israelis who moved to areas captured during the Six-Day War in 1967
are termed Israeli settlers. In recent years Israeli settlers have been settling in
Palestinian territory such as the Gaza Strip and West Bank. However, this has
caused political unrest and many settlers are forcibly removed from their
settlements by the Israeli government.
Syria – In recent times, Arab settlers have also moved in large numbers to
ethnic minority areas, such as northeast Syria.
Settlements can prevent native people from continuing their work. For
example, if the settlers take part of the land which the olive trees grow on
then the natives no longer have access to those olive trees and their livelihood
is compromised.[10]
Causes of emigration
The reasons for the emigration of settlers vary, but often they include the
following factors and incentives: the desire to start a new and better life in a
foreign land, personal financial hardship, social, cultural, ethnic, or religious
persecution (e.g., the Pilgrims and Mormons), political oppression, and
government incentive policies aimed at encouraging foreign settlement.
See also
Green March
Immigration
Indigenous people
Israeli Settlers
Lebensraum
Population transfer
Settler colonialism
Sooners
Squatter
Transmigration program
Colonialism
Gentrification
Imperialism
Displacement
References
1. Wolfe, Patrick (2006). "Settler colonialism and the elimination of the native".
Journal of Genocide Research. 8 (4).
3. Wolfe, Patrick (2006). "Settler colonialism and the elimination of the native".
Journal of Genocide Research. 8 (4).
10. Olson, Pamela (2013). Fast Times in Palestine. Berkeley, California: Seal Press.
p. 35. ISBN 978-1-580-05483-6.