In June, 1959, I entered into a contract with the United States Atomic Energy Commission (Contract No. AT(04-3-315) to direct a programme of human geographical studies in Northwestern Arctic Alaska. These studies were part of the bio-environmental programme for Project Chariot. They were centred on the Eskimo village of Point Hope but included the villages of Noatak and Point Lay. Although the contract terminated on June 1st, 1961 I remained in arctic Alaska for an additiona1 year of research. [...]

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The pages of history are dotted with the names of men who have made only a small contribution to the sum of human knowledge. Often only a name, linked with a brief mention of some achievement, are all that remain to remind us that a man did exist. This thesis is an attempt to save one such man from near-obscurity. Much of Captain John Palliser has already been forgotten - his early life, his background, his character, are at least veiled if not completely obscured. All that remains is the record of his achievement; the report of the surveying expedition which, between 1857 and 1860, he led across the plains and mountains of what is now western Canada. Many historians and agriculturalists have consulted this report, but in my opinion only a few demonstrate more than a superficial knowledge of the document, and most have misinterpreted the conclusions there set down. This thesis is an attempt to reassess the Palliser survey. The report prepared by Captain John Palliser is well-written, very detailed, and comprehensive; in short, a perfect hunting ground for the research student. On the surface the study of this report is an integral unit falling within easily definable limits, but in reality, a complete reappraisal of its contents would require the combined skills of scholars in many fields, from anthropology through to astronomy. The problems of the scientist have been largely dropped in this study; a criticism of the geological, botanical, meteorological, and other similar observations has been left to the specialists in those particluar fields. Except where it has been necessary to draw upon the knowledge of the agronomist or economist, this thesis is an attempt to study the Palliser survey from the point of view of the historian. It has already been noted that the Palliser surveying expedition was in the field from 1857 to 1860. Between 1860 and the opening decades of the twentieth century, many other surveying parties traversed the plains and mountains of western Canada. This thesis is not an attempt to compare the Palliser survey with surveys conducted in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, it is an attempt to evaluate Palliser's observations in the light of present-day knowledge. Finally, I would like to thank the members of the Faculty without whose assistance this thesis would not have been completed. The advice of Dr. M.Y. Williams and Dr. J.L., Robinson of the Department of Geology and Geography was invaluable in the preparation of the final chapter. Nevertheless, the opinions expressed in this thesis are my own. / Arts, Faculty of / History, Department of / Graduate

When Captain James Cook sailed into Botany Bay in Australia for the first time in 1770, his botanist Joseph Banks described the behaviour of the Aboriginals to be 'totally unmovd' and 'totally engagd'.During this same few days Cook named the place Stingray Bay. Within eight days the name was changed by Cook to Botany Bay. Banks' phrases generate oscillating perceptions and Cook's name change poses questions. The perceptions documented in Banks' journal, refer to an invisibility of the Aboriginals themselves. The name 'Stingray' and its change to 'Botany' raises political questions about the necessity for the change. The change also sheds light on a viewpoint at odds with its subject. The events that occurred during the eight days Cook was anchored in Botany Bay will be discussed firstly in the framework of an analysis of the implications of the terms 'totally unmovd' and 'totally engagd' in Banks' journal, and secondly in a discussion about the various historical notions concerning the name change. Did these curly histories and viewpoints render the indigenous culture invisible? Can these inscriptions made by Cook and Banks and the subsequent mythologies surrounding them, including those about the actual place, be a metaphor for 'further understanding'? / Master of Arts (Hons) (Visual Arts)

The thesis analyses the continuum of European activity that preceded establishment of an effective pastoral industry in Australia's north-west. Two strands - physical activity and evolution of legislation - are interwoven, examining growth in geographical knowledge, proposals for colonisation and the outcome of interplay between government officials and landholders over land policy. Growth in geographical knowledge gave rise to colonisation proposals from 1828. The thesis relates these proposals to events affecting northern Australia to show that promotion and occupation of north-west lands constituted an integral part of the outgrowth of colonial settlement in Australia. Europeans occupied the north-west in two waves, abortively during the 1860s and continuously from 1879. The existing literature identifies these waves but provides inadequate analysis of events to 1884. The thesis fills this gap by showing that land hunger, misinformation, land speculation, manipulation of legislation and exploitation of political power for private commercial gain determined the shape of north-west settlement. Moreover, by relating land policy to tenure and occupation, it shows that private individuals influenced land policy and impeded official plans for rapid settlement. Thus, the thesis provides a fresh perspective not only on the prelude to effective pastoral settlement in the north-west but on the management of Western Australia's outlying lands in the period before responsible government.

No discreet study of the Spanish voyages of discovery and exploration to the northwest coast of North American during the 1770's has been published in English. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the Spanish expeditions of 1774, 1775, and 1779, directed by New Spain's Viceroy Antonio Maria Burareli y Ursua (1771-1779).

The Histoire de la Nouvelle-France (1609, 1611, 1612, 1617, 1618) by Marc Lescarbot (v. 1570--1641) is read as a symbolic foundation for the young colony of Port-Royal, Acadia (Annapolis, Nova Scotia), a construct which functions as a valid genesis for French America (thus, "New France" in the title refers specifically to this habitation as well as to the men who contributed to its making). Chapter I is devoted to a reading of the work's abundant paratext and identifies the topics at stake in the unfavourable rumours about the Acadian expeditions as well as about the lieutenant of Port-Royal, Jean de Biencourt, sieur de Poutrincourt. Moreover, this chapter explores the subjective marks, disseminated in the paratext, that build up the historian's ethos, which works as a proof of the validity of his object. This chapter investigates as well the metadiscursive comments on the writing of history and their incidence on the referentiality of the work. Chapter II compares the compilation of travel accounts contained in the Histoire with its sources. This comparison shows how the alteration of these accounts of travellers---who recorded themselves the result of their American expeditions---strengthens the division of the stereotyped dichotomy between the man of letters and the man of action, two functions respectively assigned to Lescarbot and Poutrincourt in the Histoire. The order of this compilation as well as the organisation of its various parts according to a diegetical logic shape specific places where a tension emerges between a reliable discourse, intended to a readership interested in the actual conditions of a colonial establishment, and the production of a textual "coating" aiming at attracting a courtly readership, to which the Jesuits, who challenged Poutrincourt's colonial project, addressed their requests. In chapter III, where are confronted the written and mapped representations of Port-Royal, this tension is even more manifest.

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