Captain Cook & The Doctrine - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Captain Cook &The Doctrine of Discovery

Hosted by

Tāmaki

Treaty

Workers & Auckland Central Library

As part of the Auckland Heritage Festival

Authority Given to Subdue Other Peoples and Their LandsWe had formerly … granted among other things free and ample faculty to the aforesaid King Alfonso – to invade, search out, capture, vanquish, and subdue all Saracens and pagans whatsoever … and the kingdoms, dukedoms, principalities, dominions, possessions, and all movable and immovable goods whatsoever held and possessed by them and to reduce their persons to perpetual slavery …Pope Nicholas V, Romanus Pontifex, 1454Papal Bull addressed to King Alfonso of Spain

Division of the ‘undiscovered’ world between Spain & PortugalWe have learned that you, who for a long time had intended to seek out and discover certain islands and mainlands … to the end that you might bring to the worship of our Redeemer and the profession of the Catholic faith their residents and inhabitants … You chose our beloved son, Christopher Columbus … and they at length discovered certain very remote islands and even

mainlands that hitherto had not been discovered by others; wherein dwell very many peoples living in peace … and

seem sufficiently disposed to embrace the Catholic faith and be trained in good morals ..In the islands and countries already discovered are found gold, spices, and very many other precious things of divers kinds and qualities.Pope Alexander VI, Inter Caetera

,

1493

The Spanish InvadersInto and among these gentle sheep … did creep the Spaniards, who no sooner had knowledge of these people than they became like fierce wolves and tigers and lions who have gone many days without food or nourishment. And no other thing have they done for forty years until this day, and still today see fit to do, but … destroy the Indians by all manner of cruelty … to such a degree that on the Island of Hispaniola, of the above three millions souls that we once saw, today there be no more than two hundred of those native people remaining. Bartolomé de las Casas A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies written 1542, published 1552

Ongoing Impacts of the Discovery DoctrineThe potentates of the old world found no difficulty in convincing themselves that they made ample compensation to the inhabitants of the new, by bestowing on them civilization and Christianity.US Chief Justice John Marshall, 1823See: Impact on Indigenous peoples of the international legal construct known as the Doctrine of Discovery, which has served as the foundation of the violation of their human rights: Initial study submitted by Tonya Gonnella Frichner, Special Rapporteur, United Nations, 2010.

18th Century Enlightenment EuropeScience and the ChurchAdmiralty and Royal SocietyTransit of VenusClaim lands by right of discovery

MissionThe Great Southern Continent – Terra Australis IncognitaStrategic, scientific, commercialAstronomer, botanist, two naturalists, draftsman

“Discovery”Landfall 9 September 1769Observations, data, samples, knowledgeClaiming by discovery 31 January 1770

Flagging, Naming, Claiming, PossessingAfter I had thus prepared the way for setting up the post, we took it up to the highest part of the Island, and after fixing it fast in the ground, hoisted thereon the Union flag, and I dignified this Inlet with the name of Queen Charlotte's Sound, and took formal possession of it and the Adjacent lands in the Name and for the use of his Majesty.  Cook’s Endeavour Diary 31 January 1770

Superimposing Foreign Names: a ViolenceIn recounting acts of violence by Europeans against Māori communities from the time of first contact through to the 1830s, Nuki Aldridge included the superimposition of European names on Ngāpuhi lands … Aldridge noted that Captain Cook had introduced many place names based on erroneous judgments. Cook gave the name Poverty Bay to a large, rich bay on the East Coast in the mistaken belief there was no food there. He reached this conclusion, said Aldridge, “without making contact with the people who actually lived there”. Nuki Aldridge, Affidavit to the Waitangi Tribunal, Wai 1040, 2010Cited in Healy, S. (Ed.). The Doctrine of Discovery. In Listening to the People of the Land: Christianity, Colonisation and the Path to Redemption, 2019.

Names Link a People to the WhenuaBy what right did Cook ignore the original names and overlay them with his own, asked Aldridge. And by what right did those who followed him make Cook’s names the official ones? This, said Aldridge, was the beginning of the process of “separating us from our whenua [land].”

Samuel Marsden on Heathen ConversionIt may be requisite to state that the New Zealanders [Māori] have derived no advantages hitherto either from commerce or the arts of civilization; and must, therefore, be in heathen darkness and ignorance. Though they appear to be a very superior people in point of mental capacity … yet they must not be considered by any means so favourably circumstanced for the reception of the Gospel, as civilized nations are. Samuel Marsden (c. 1809) Cited in Davidson, A., & Lineham, P. (1989). Transplanted Christianity: Documents illustrating aspects of New Zealand church history. Auckland: Dunmore Press, s. 1.2.

Needing to learn “civilisation” and “the Christian law of love”?Like many Pacific cultures, Māori society has always placed a high value on care for one’s kin and hospitality to the stranger. Early European missionaries and settlers would not have survived without the manaaki (care) of local Māori communities.Listening to the People of the Land, Ch. 1

Upholding Traditional Māori ValuesThe concept of hohourongo – of instilling peace and balance – teaches us to reclaim our own values, practices and approaches as the levers for change.Dame Tariana Turia (13 May 2011)

Land Alienation in Aotearoa1769 – 0%1890 – 60%1950 – 85%2019 – 96%

HealthPopulation Life expectancyFutures

Which history taught, which untaught?While supportive of the intent of the Ōtorohanga College students’ petition … consideration also needs to be given to the fact that many secondary school history teachers have a preoccupation with conflict themes in history [which] may limit the scope of history teaching, particularly when Māori leaders and communities themselves prefer to ‘reclaim’ their narratives of the past. As the well-known Māori health leader, Dr Irihapeti Ramsden, once stated (with both concern and pride), Māori have always been more than just warriors: “once were gardeners, once were astronomers, once were philosophers, once were lovers”. Dr Richard Manning & Mr Garrick CooperSubmission to the Māori Affairs Select Committee: the teaching of ‘New Zealand colonial histories’ and more broadly, Māori histories in NZ school curricula (particularly at secondary school)

Beyond Discovery: Recognition, Engagement Te Tino RangatiratangaTe Awa Tupua (Whanganui River Claims Settlement) Act 2017Te Awa Tupua recognitionTe Awa Tupua is an indivisible and living whole, comprising the Whanganui River from the mountains to the sea, incorporating all its physical and metaphysical elements.Te Awa Tupua declared to be legal personTe Awa Tupua is a legal person and has all the rights, powers, duties, and liabilities of a legal person.The rights, powers, and duties of Te Awa Tupua must be exercised or performed, and responsibility for its liabilities must be taken, by Te

Pou Tupua on behalf of, and in the name of, Te Awa Tupua

Recognition, Engagement, Te Tino RangatiratangaSchools/organisations in relationship with Mana Whenua and local maraeTe Reo classesTe Tiriti o Waitangi and Constitutional transformation Matike Mai reportTreaty-based constitutions for Te Hahi Weteriana/Methodist Church, Literacy Aotearoa …Co-governance involving hapū/iwi and Crown bodiesRecognition of mana/personhood of Te Awa Tupu (Whanganui) & Waikato RiversTūhoe Mana Motuhake

What can we do? what is already being done? to bring the Government and those of settler descent into relationships of real engagement with tangata whenua?Any other thoughts/recommendations coming out of this discussion?