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ESSAY! :)   =__What impact did European Settlements have Aboriginal Australians?__=

====The settlement of white Europeans in Australia made a great impact on Aboriginal life. The three main areas of impact on the Aboriginal community were the introduction of disease, food and land reduction, and the increase in violence and murder.====

====Aboriginal life before European settlement was much more peaceful and spiritual. The aboriginals would work together and with the land and with other tribes. Their relationship with the land was not like any European culture, they used everything on the land creatively and wisely. They lived in tribes and hunted in packs but never killed their totem’s, which where the animals that represented their clan/tribe. They did not have clothes or money or any technology but they didn’t care because they were happy working and living together sharing resources as one in a communal society. This way of life continued for another 40,000 years until white European settlement introduced such things as disease.====

====The European settlement had a big impact on introducing new diseases and infections. When an Aboriginal got sick they had a 40% chance of death. Aboriginals would die due to these sicknesses because they had no immunity to the illness which usually was just a common cold or flu. The main disease was Small Pox, which was a nasty infection caused by the variola virus. It would kill in 30% of cases leaving survivors badly scarred. Small Pox was carried to the new colony by the settlers of the first fleet and then passed onto the indigenous people, who had no immunity to the disease. Small Pox was declared eliminated in 1977. Other diseases introduced included influenza and STD’s which reduced population numbers. Another issue that affected the population was violent conflicts.====

====When the Aboriginals where first introduced to the Europeans, almost immediately there was a lot of tension between the two parties because of two main factors. One being the unknown; the local Aborigines had never seen light coloured people before and did not know what to make of them, and the Europeans were taking over and changing their local environment. The two had very different views and outlooks of each other and their cultures and beliefs. The tension grew and it was just a matter of time before things started getting violent. When the Europeans started to take over the land the Aboriginals began to protest against it then violence followed. They began attacking the Europeans who also fought back. It began to turn into a war, with the Europeans shooting the Aboriginals and raping the women. They would even shoot the Aborigines’ as a sport. The Europeans were far more advanced in combat than the Aboriginals. They had no chance to defend themselves as well as they should have. This gave the Europeans the opportunity to take control over the land, and eventually eradicate the Aboriginals from their local lands.====

====When the Europeans took over the land they destroyed the food supplies and killed their Totum animals. The Aboriginals felt disgusted and disrespected that the Europeans did not respect and obey their rules. The Europeans started to build houses and communities. The farmers were planting all new crops and vegetables that the Aboriginals had never seen or tasted. The Aboriginals took the food to taste and in most cases where shot dead. When the Aboriginals were introduced to alcohol they would get violent and some would also get addicted.====

====In my opinion I think that the European settlement had a big impact, not just on Australia, but the world, because it had a negative and positive affect. The negative effects include disease, murder and the taking over of the land. But the positives to come out of it was the advance in medicine,====