ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the frontier genocides waged against the Aboriginal Tasmanians, the Yuki of California, and the Herero of Namibia that reveals a surprisingly congruent pattern despite the fact that the cases took place on different continents, under different regimes, and in different periods. Comparing cases of frontier genocide provides information valuable to detection, prevention and intervention as well as victimized peoples' land and reparations claims. Genocide in Tasmania, California, and Namibia began with a common lie: the assertion that the land was "empty," "unclaimed," or should be "made empty." Victors write history, and, in the final phases of frontier genocide, perpetrators create a myth to excuse their crimes. Economic conflict between settlers and Aboriginal Tasmanians began soon after the British arrived. The genocide of the Herero advanced along lines similar to the Tasmanian and Yuki cases, with variations.
