Aboriginal Economic Development: A Comparison of the Cherokee Nation of the United States and the Aborigines of Australia

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2010 in the subject American Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 2,3, University of Leipzig (Philologische Fakultat), language: English, abstract: Abstract The purpose of this paper is to draw a comparison between the Cherokee Nation of the United States and the Aborigines of Australia concerning their economic development. Even though the Cherokee Nation and the Australian Aborigines share similar historical backgrounds with regard to a long lasting mistreatment by their prevailing governments, the Cherokee Nation, in contrast to the Australian Aborigines, has been and continues to experience a more successful economic development. This paper analyzes the reasons underlying this contrast. For that, the historical background of the Australian Aborigines and the Cherokee Nation is examined and compared. Since both of them were mistreated by their prevailing governments, their historical backgrounds are compared and the consequences of the mistreatment are applied to their contemporary economic situations. After that, the contemporary economic situations of the two peoples are compared, whereat the distinction between the Cherokee Nation’s economic success and the Aborigine’s economic failure becomes apparent. Finally, the reasons for the different economic development are investigated and in how far the affected peoples or even their governments, as in the case of the Australian Aborigines, are responsible for this difference. The results will be revealed and discussed.