ABORIGINAL PEOPLES

Four groups of peoples - the Australian Aborigines, the Indians of North and South America, and the Bushmen of South Africa - are not often considered together, but they have certain things in common.

First, all four human groups were the original inhabitants of their part of the world. (The word aborigine means the people who/that were there from the beginning.) However, none thought that the land where they lived belonged to them. On the contrary, they felt that they belonged to the land. The land was where they lived, along with all the other creatures of nature.

They were hunters, so they had a detailed knowledge of the natural world around them. They knew every animal and part of the landscape, and made stories, dances, pictures and songs about them.

These/such people thought it was important to fit into their surroundings. They took their place beside all other living things, and lived in balance with them.

But then the outsiders arrived and changed everything. At first, the original inhabitants welcomed the white people, helping them to find food and shelter in the new land. But they soon discovered/saw/found/learned/realised/understood that the new people lived by a totally different set of beliefs.

For example, unlike the original inhabitants, the newcomers thought that land was something which could be owned/possessed by one person or group, not  shared by all.