ABSTRACT
Chapter 1 begins by providing the historical, political and social context that led to the rise of the stadial theories and explains their place within the conjectural history. It then goes on to examine the writings of the early European colonists and explorers in order to bring out their views as regards the place the Aborigines occupied on the ladder of human development. It demonstrates that their opinions largely coincided with the philosophical notion of the “gradations of barbarism”, developed by the eighteenth-century Scottish Enlightenment theorists. Despite being regarded by Europeans as one of the least civilised peoples, the Aborigines, like all other humans, were thought to be capable of advancement when given some impetus to do so. Influenced by such assumptions, the educated British colonists were convinced that they possessed the necessary competence and means to help them along the set path towards civilisation, regardless of whether the Aborigines would be willing to embark on this journey or not.
