Creating Oregon from Illahee: Race, Settler-Colonialism, and Native Sovereignty in Western Oregon, 1792-1856
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Date
2002-06
Authors
Whaley, Gray H.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
The colonial history of Oregon requires, in my opinion, significant revision.
Therefore, I addressed numerous important topics that regional historians, in my estimation, have handled incompletely. Such topics include the paradoxes of Christian
mission and colony, economic speculations of the "hardy pioneers," interracial marriages
and the so-called "mixed-bloods," the relationship between citizenship and white
patriarchy. and the attempted extermination of the Indians of southwestern Oregon.
This dissertation attempts to analyze the power of different people to shape
western Oregon in the early nineteenth century. a time of fundamental changes to
identity, environment, and demography. I explored both the nature of Euro-American
settler-colonialism in western Oregon and Native efforts to create new forms of
sovereignty under the pressures of disease, displacement. and conquest. My emphasis on
colonialism provides an effective context for exploring the dynamics of power that are
crucial for understanding the region's history. As well, my approach makes it possible to
relate an important part of United States history 10 similar histories in the world such as
New Zealand and Australia that also featured settler-colonialism and its counterparts:
conquest. Native dispossession, and, in some instances, genocide.
Description
441 pages
Keywords
Lower Oregon fur trade, Experimental religion, Race wars, Native American colonies