Disappearing aborigines (5)- Australian aborigines

Australian aborigines are the general name of Australian aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, and they are descendants of aborigines who lived in the Australian mainland and its adjacent islands before Europeans colonized Oceania.

"Australian aborigines" is a general term that contains great ethnic differences. For example, the Tiwi, Nongjia and Torres Strait Islander are all different ethnic groups, and the ethnic groups belonging to the aborigines are not necessarily closely related or homologous. There are great differences between different indigenous communities and societies, and each community has its own unique culture, customs and language. It is estimated that before European colonization, there were about 250 languages spoken by indigenous people, and now only about 120 to 145 languages still exist, most of which are endangered languages, and only 13 languages are not endangered languages. Modern aborigines mostly use English mixed with aborigine vocabulary, and are influenced by aborigine pronunciation and grammatical structure. This kind of English is called "Australian Indigenous English".

Australian aborigines are descendants of the first wave of ancient people who left Africa for Asia about 70 thousand years ago and arrived in Australia about 60 thousand years ago.

The broad concept of "Australian aborigines" includes many regional ethnic groups, which often use self-identity from the local aborigines' languages. These include:

Cooley: This is a self-naming commonly used by aboriginal people in New South Wales and Victoria.

Nunava: It is an indigenous ethnic group, claiming to be distributed in the Australian Capital Territory and the surrounding areas of New South Wales;

Gully: it is an indigenous group, claiming to be distributed in southeastern Queensland and parts of northern New South Wales;

Modi: It is an indigenous people distributed in southwest and central Queensland.

Mully: it is a self-name commonly used in other parts of Queensland (where specific names such as Gully and Mordi are not used);

Nunga: Southern Western Australia;

Sambucus: Midwest Australia;

Maruge: a gold mine in Western Australia;

Nongjia: southern South Australia;

Anangu: the northern part of South Australia and parts of Western Australia and the Northern Territory bordering them;

Yapa: the central and western parts of the Northern Territory;

Yungu: East of Anam, Northern Territory;

Binich: Western Anam, Northern Territory;

Tivi: Tivi Islands in the waters near Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory;

Diaco Wa, A Ning: Groot Island in the waters near Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory;

Barahova: Tasmania.

There are even more subtle differences among these large ethnic groups. For example, "Anangu" from the central desert may come from Pian Gagara, Yang Kun Gagara, Narniagara, Luriga or Antikyrinya.

It is estimated that before the arrival of British colonists, the indigenous population of the Australian mainland was between 365,438+08,000 and 750,000. There were about 500 different tribes in Australia at that time. From 65438 to 0787, Europeans immigrated to Australia in large numbers. Due to the conflict between land and biological resources, and the original weapons of aborigines can not resist foreign aggression, at least 20 thousand aborigines died in land conflicts, many aborigines became slaves, and most aborigines lost fertile and feasible land and were driven to barren land. What is even more disastrous is that immigrants have brought a lot of diseases, which have made the aborigines who are already short of living resources worse. By 1933, the number of aborigines in Australia was only about 70,000.

1770, British aggressor James? Cook arrived at the east coast of Australia and announced that Britain occupied the land.

1788 65438+ 10, the first batch of prisoners exiled to Australia by Britain arrived in Sydney Bay, and Britain began to establish colonies in Australia. At that time, it was estimated that 750,000 aborigines lived in Australia. European colonists arrived in Australia on 1788 and drove the indigenous tribes out of their territory.

1789, the first smallpox epidemic infected by colonists occurred among indigenous people, resulting in the death of hundreds of indigenous people.

179 1 year, the British colonial authorities "allocated" the land near Sydney Bay to exiled prisoners who had served their sentences, and began the process of depriving indigenous people of their land. In this process, the conflict between aborigines and colonists led to the death of tens of thousands of aborigines.

19011110, the colony of Australia was changed to Australia, and the Commonwealth of Australia was established, but the aborigines were excluded from the census and classified as "animal groups".

19 10, Australia adopted a policy. On the grounds of improving the lives of indigenous children, the authorities stipulate that mixed-race indigenous children can be taken away from indigenous families at will and concentrated in nurseries and other places.

1937, the Australian authorities adopted an official policy of forced assimilation of mixed-race indigenous people.

Today, the tragedy of indigenous people continues. Indigenous people who lost their land are scattered all over the country and flow to towns, but they are not integrated with urban life and white people. They are against assimilation and segregation. The average life expectancy of Australian aborigines is about 59.4 years for men and 65 years for women, which is less than the general population of Australia 17 years.