This paper examines the long-term economic impacts of the adoption of local knowledge during European colonisation. We use the case of Australia, where Aboriginal knowledge of the landscape was integral to colonial exploration and settlement. To quantify the effects of this knowledge, we...

In the 1830s and 1840s proposals to allow indigenous testimony were part of broader disputes about the shape of colonial government and attempts to use courts to "civilize" indigenous peoples. In 1840, the English law officers concluded that any potential witness in a common law court had to...