Editing Amerindian Genocide (section)

===Genocide in the United States, Canada and Greenland===
====Extinction of the Beothuk====
The Canadian Beothuk people of Newfoundland became extinct in 1829. Initially co-existing with English settlers, the Beothuk had been forced off their fisheries and hunting grounds in the 17th Century, leading to starvation. The Beothuk’s attempts to reclaim these lands resulted in an all-out war during which the Beothuk were hunted down and killed. The colonial government attempted to mitigate this by putting out a reward for capturing Beothuk alive, but this just lead to more killing as settlers slaughtered any Beothuk who resisted capture. The last few Beothuk died of tuberculosis introduced by the settlers in captivity.

====[[American Indian Wars]]====
Many wars were fought against Native American tribes in the United States and Canada, first by colonial powers and then by the United States and Canadian governments. These wars left thousands, if not millions, of Natives dead and are generally viewed as [[Xenophobia|xenophobic]] and genocidal, often leading to colonists adopting policies of outright extermination against the natives if they started winning (notable examples of this tactic being seen in the Pequot War, King Philip’s War the French and Indian War and the First Seminole War among others). There were also cases of U.S. Army troops massacring Native Americans, such as the cases with [[Sand Creek Massacre|Sand Creek]] and [[Wounded Knee Massacre|Wounded Knee]]. Many of these massacres were done in reprisal for attacks and raids on settlements. In one instance, the U.S. government orchestrated a [[California Genocide|genocidal campaign against the indigenous population of California]] that lasted from 1846 to 1873. 

====[[Conestoga Massacre]]====
The [[Paxton Boys]], a vigilante group, raided Conestoga Indian Town, Pennsylvania, on 14 December 1763 with the intention of wiping out the Conestoga tribe, who they had accused of providing intelligence and aid to hostile tribes during Pontiac’s War. They shot and scalped six Conestoga during the attack and burned down the village, leading to Governor John Penn posting a reward for the capture of the Paxton Boys and placing the remaining sixteen Conestoga in protective custody in Lancaster Gaol.

On 27 December the Paxton Boys attacked Lancaster Gaol. They shot six Conestoga adults and eight children purposefully non-fatally before mutilating and scalping them, executing those who survived with shots to the head. Governor Penn increased the reward for their capture to $600 ($21, 000 in today’s money) but they were never brought to justice because many locals sympathized with them. Only two Conestoga survived, leading to the extinction of the tribe when they died. 

==== [[Sullivan Expedition]] ====
In 1779, during the [[American Revolutionary War]], American generals [[John Sullivan]] and [[James Clinton]] conducted a series of attacks on Iroquoian villages by employing scorched earth tactics to destroy their crops and villages. The expedition was enacted under the orders of George Washington to put an end to attacks by Iroquoian people and Loyalists sympathetic to the British and was mostly done in retaliation to the [[Cherry Valley massacre]] of 1778. After the expedition, the economy of the Iroquois Confederacy was severely devastated and many people died from disease.

====[[Gnadenhutten Massacre]]====
At the time of the American War of Independence, many Native Americans had been converted to Moravian Christianity and so remained neutral due to Christian pacifism. This alienated them from the American militias, who saw them as traitors for not helping to resist the British.

On 4 March 1782, Lieutenant Colonel [[David Williamson]] lead the Pennsylvania Militia in a raid on Gnadenhutten, a Moravian Indian village inhabited mostly by Lenape and Mohican tribesmen. They first came across the half-Lenape Joseph Schebosh and hacked him to death before proceeding on to the village, where they acted friendly and falsely promised the Moravians that they would take them to Fort Pitt to keep them safe from potential enemies. Several militiamen also persuaded Moravian Indians from the nearby town of Salem to come to Gnadenhutten for safety.

Once all the Moravian Indians had gathered, the militia confiscated their guns and axes (which they used for hunting), tied them up and announced that they had been found guilty of false charges of [[murder]] and espionage. The militia voted in favor of killing them (with the exception of eighteen who refused to take part in the massacre) before taking them to “killing houses” on 8 March where they were beaten, [[Scalping|scalped]] and hacked to death while singing hymns and praying. Many native women were [[Gang Rape|gang-raped]] by the militia before being killed. Overall, 96 Moravian Indian men, women and children were killed. The militia planned to commit another massacre at a nearby Moravian Indian settlement but the inhabitants were alerted to the events at Gnadenhutten and fled before the militia arrived. 

==== [[Awa'uq Massacre]] ====
On April, 1784, during the Russian colonization of Alaska, a party of 130 Russian fur traders massacred a community of Alutiiq people residing on Sitkalidak Island. It is estimated that about 500 were killed in the massacre, while 1,000 people were captured as each chief was forced to surrender his children to the Russians as hostages.

==== [[San Nicolas Island Massacre]] ====
In 1814, a party of Aleut hunters working for the Russian American Company mass murdered and raped the native Nicoleño population residing on San Nicolas Island within the Channel Islands off the coast of California. The last surviving member, Juana Maria, died in 1853.

====[[The Trail of Tears]]====
On 28 May 1830, President [[Andrew Jackson]] signed into law the Indian Removal Act, which authorized the US government to confiscate Native American land. The Act was strongly enforced under Jackson’s presidency and that of his successor, [[Martin Van Buren]].

Under the Indian Removal Act, the government had a mandate to remove 50,000 Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek, Seminole and Chickasaw people from their homeland and seize it for themselves. No means of transportation were provided after the Natives were removed, meaning they were forced to walk 2,200 miles to Indian reservations. 4,000 deaths were reported on one march alone, and estimates of the total death toll range from 5,000 to 25,000. Others Natives were herded into concentration camps until new land was found for then to settle on, but this was generally used as a last resort. Some accounts suggest that the US soldiers who enforced the Removal Act also raped many Native women and wore their genitals on their hats.

====[[Long Walk of the Navajo]]====
In 1864, after a Navajo tribe led by Chief Manuelito were defeated by the U.S. Army with the help of a Ute tribe, they were forced to walk 300 miles from their ancestral homelands in Arizona to a reservation in eastern New Mexico known as [[Bosque Redondo]]. The U.S. soldiers were complicit in the suffering of the Navajo during the Long Walk. Several women who struggled to keep up were mercifully killed by the soldiers based on oral accounts from the survivors. The Navajo were also subjected to slavery after being captured by New Mexican and Ute raiders. It is estimated that about 200 Navajo people died on the Long Walk.

At Bosque Redondo, the Navajo, along with the Mescalero Apaches, suffered from appalling conditions, as the inhospitable land on the reservation was not suitable for farming. After three years of staying at Bosque Redondo, general William Sherman and his peace commission offered the Navajo tribe to move east to Indian territory in Oklahoma, to which the tribe declined and requested an offer to move back to their ancestral homeland. A treaty was signed in 1868 and the Navajo returned to their original homeland.

==== [[Cypress Hills Massacre]] ====
On June 1st, 1873, a party of American hunters and traders massacred a group of Assiniboine people residing in a camp near Battle Creek in Saskatchewan. An investigation into the massacre was commissioned and most of the perpetrators were put on trial. This also led to the establishment of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Canadian resentment towards American people as a result of the massacre.

====[[Wounded Knee Massacre]]====
Based on the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie, the U.S. government was able to convince the Lakota tribe to move to the Great Sioux Reservation in return for less inhumane treatment. At around this time, the Sioux took up the "Ghost Dance" religion, which taught that loving each other, working hard and not stealing or fighting would lead to the reunion of the living and the dead and the sweeping away of evil. White authorities, alarmed by this new religion, began arresting Lakota leaders, leading to many Lakota attempting to flee the reservation.

On December 29, 1890, the Seventh Cavalry Unit, lead by [[James W. Forsyth]] and acting on orders from President [[Benjamin Harrison]], intercepted a group led by Chief Spotted Elk as they were fleeing the reservation. Forsyth announced that they were to surrender all their weapons, but one deaf-mute man, Black Coyote, did not understand his orders and failed to put down his rifle. The soldiers attempted to take the rifle from Black Coyote, causing it to discharge. The panicked soldiers immediately opened fire on the unarmed Lakota, some of whom attempted to retrieve their guns in self-defense, which was used to justify the massacre. Women and children fled and took cover in a nearby ravine, but were killed when Forsyth ordered light artillery positioned on the hill to fire on their position. It is estimated that around 300 Lakota were killed in the massacre. 20 of the soldiers who participated in the massacre were rewarded Medals of Honor.

====Assimilation policies====
The [[Bureau of Indian Affairs]] pursued a policy of cultural assimilation of Native Americans under the Dawes Act of 1887. Based on [[Richard Pratt]]'s ideology of "kill the Indian and save the man", the BIA forcibly enrolled Native American children in "Indian boarding schools" (most infamously [[Carlisle Indian Industrial School]]) where they were banned from speaking their native language and practicing their religion. Children were harshly disciplined if they refused to assimilate into white culture and many died. Parents who refused to give up their children were incarcerated. This policy of cultural genocide finally ended in 1934 when the failures of the policy became clear and the schools were all closed. 

The Canadian government pursued the same policy with the [[Canadian Indian residential school system]] which was designed to forcibly assimilate native children into western culture. These schools were even more brutal than the American ones, with many acts of physical, mental and sexual abuse being committed against the children. Thousands of children died due to poor treatment until the system was closed down in 1997, and mass graves are still being uncovered today.
====[[Indian termination|Indian termination policy]]====
"Indian termination" is a phrase describing United States policies relating to Native Americans from the mid-1940s to the mid-1960s. It was shaped by a series of laws and practices with the intent of assimilating Native Americans into mainstream American society. Cultural assimilation of Native Americans was not new; the belief that indigenous people should abandon their traditional lives and become what the government considers "civilized" had been the basis of policy for centuries. What was new, however, was the sense of urgency that, with or without consent, tribes must be terminated and begin to live "as Americans." To that end, Congress set about ending the special relationship between tribes and the federal government.

In practical terms, the policy ended the federal government's recognition of sovereignty of tribes, trusteeship over Indian reservations, and the exclusion of state law's applicability to Native persons. From the government's perspective, Native Americans were to become taxpaying citizens subject to state and federal taxes as well as laws from which they had previously been exempt.

The policy for termination of tribes collided with the Native American peoples' own desires to preserve Native identity. The termination policy was changed in the 1960s and rising activism resulted in the ensuing decades of restoration of tribal governments and increased Native American self-determination. This policy would continue until being discontinued by the [[Richard Nixon|Nixon]] administration.

====Forced sterilization====
During the 1960s and 1970s, the Indian Health Service performed thousands of sterilizations on Native American women between the ages of 15 and 44, with 3,406 women being sterilized between 1973 and 1976. Most of these sterilizations were performed without informed consent, with the women being either tricked into thinking the process was reversible, blackmailed into consenting with threats of losing welfare or simply forced to undergo the procedure with no prior knowledge. This was part of a wider policy of [[eugenics]] which also included African-Americans and the poor. It was halted in 1976 when the General Accountability Office found the sterilizations to be noncompliant with IHS ethics and policy and declared a moratorium on all sterilization procedures.

A similar policy was pursued in several Canadian provinces in the 1930s, where Native women were declared to be mentally incompetent and were sterilized under the direction of the provincial Boards of Eugenics.

==== Highway of Tears ====
In British Columbia, Canada, tens of poverty-stricken natives have been subjected to homicides, rapes and disappearances. Many of these cases have been unresolved, with some activists arguing that the lack of coverage and results of the investigations are due to systemic racism and the media being complicit in the injustices suffered by indigenous people. These crimes still persist to this day.

==== Spiral Campaign ====
In Greenland, thousands of Inuit women has intrauterine placed on them by Danish government officials to control the birth rate among the Greenlandic Inuit population. Some have characterized this act as genocide and both the Danish and Greenlandic governments are currently conducting an investigation into the campaign.