¹ Sharp, Paul F., “Three Frontiers: some comparative studies of Canadian, American and Australian Settlement”, Pacific Historical Review, vol. 24 (1955), p. 369.CrossRefGoogle Scholar A comparative attempt in a direction similar to the one taken in this paper was sponsored by the University of Wisconsin: The Frontier in Perspective (1957), ed. Wyman, W. D. and Kroeber, C. B..Google Scholar It was published after this paper had been written.

² Turner, Frederick Jackson, The Significance of Sections in American History (1932, reprinted 1950), pp. 18–19.Google Scholar Latin America would be another appropriate area for comparison. I do not feel, however, competent to deal with it.

³ Three earlier investigations should be mentioned. Bowman, Isaiah, The Pioneer Fringe (1931)Google Scholar, investigates pioneering possibilities in the various continents from the angle of the geographer; though focused on areas recently brought under cultivation or still to be settled, this substantial book offers valuable observations also for the historian. Leyburn, James S., Frontier Folkways (1935)Google Scholar, closer to the problems of the historian, is an interesting comparative study by a sociologist. Heaton, Herbert, “Other Wests than Ours” in “The Tasks of Economic History”, The Journal of Economic History, vol. 6 (1946)Google Scholar, is the analysis of an economic historian. He deals with the basis for the economic development of the overseas settlements within the Commonwealth, in comparison with the United States.

⁴ Lattimore, Owen, “The Frontier in History”, in X Congresso Internazionale di Science Storiche, Roma, 1955Google Scholar, Relazioni, vol. 1, pp. 103–138.Google Scholar

⁵ I shall not deal with the national significance of the frontier since this topic seems to be less central than others. For Australia, especially Western Australia, a few tentative remarks in Alexander, Fred's suggestive essay Moving Frontiers: An American Theme and its Application to Australian History (Melbourne, 1947).Google Scholar Neither shall I systematically take up the economic aspect of Turner's approach, the “safety valve” theory. I trust, however, that implicitly some light will be shed on this topic by my remarks.

⁶ Trotter, Reginald G., “The Appalachian Barrier in Canadian History”, in Canadian Historical Association, Report of 1939, pp. 5–21.Google Scholar

⁷ This was the claim of Blaxland, the discoverer, himself.

⁸ Hancock, W. K., Survey of British Commonwealth Affairs, vol. 11, pt. 1 (1940), pp. 4–5.Google Scholar

⁹ The geographical difference in the American and the Canadian Western movement has been frequently stressed. Last discussion in Sharp's article (above, n. 1). Burt, A. L. (in The Frontier in Perspective, loc. cit., p. 71–72)Google Scholar strongly emphasizes the interrelation of the American and the Canadian westward movement. For a recent critical discussion of the authors interpreting Canadian history in terms of frontier influence (particularly A. R. M. Lower and F. Landon) cf. Careless, J. M. S., “Frontierism, Metropolitanism, and Canadian History”, in Canadian Historical Review, vol. 35 (1954).CrossRefGoogle Scholar This school was concerned with the influence of the environment, especially of the Western environment, in shaping Canadian democratic traditions, only in some cases with the special development of Quebec and Ontario.

¹⁰ Apart from the different volumes of the Cambridge History of the British Empire the various economic histories of the individual countries shed much light on the context in which the frontiers have to be studied. Cf. especially Innis, M. Q., An Economic History of Canada (new edition, 1954)Google Scholar; Easterbrook, W. E. and Aitken, H. G. J., Canadian Economic History (Toronto, 1956)Google Scholar; Shann, E., An Economic History of Australia (1930)Google Scholar; Fitzpatrick, Brian, The British Empire in Australia (1941)Google Scholar; Kiewiet, C. W. de, History of South Africa, Social and Economic (second edition, 1942).Google Scholar

¹¹ Clark, S. D., The Social Development of Canada (Toronto, 1942), p. 26.Google Scholar

¹² Pierson, George W., Tocqueville and Beaumont in America (New York, 1938), pp. 335–336.Google Scholar

¹³ Creighton, Donald G., The Commercial Empire of the St. Lawrence (Toronto, 1937), pp. 158–159.Google Scholar

¹⁴ In the later nineteenth century a frequently quoted saying stated: The French acquire to possess, the Americans possess in order to acquire. Even when the French Canadians eventually swelled beyond the old confines of their country, they seem to have overflowed into the United States before, through the cooperation of church and state, new areas of settlement were opened up for them within Canada. Cf. Wade, Mason, The French Canadians (1956), p. 260–261.Google Scholar

¹⁵ Gates, Paul W., “The Role of the Land Speculator in Western Development”, in Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 1942, pp. 314–333Google Scholar; Billington, Ray A., “The Origin of the Land Speculator as a Frontier Type”, in Agricultural History, vol. 19 (1945).Google Scholar

¹⁶ Burt, A. L., “The Frontier in the History of New France”, in Canadian Historical Association, Report of 1940, p. 99.Google Scholar

¹⁷ Creighton, Donald, Dominion of the North (1944), p. 83.Google Scholar

¹⁸ Wade, Mason, op. cit., p. 35.Google Scholar

¹⁹ In that respect I would rather side with Burt's critic in the discussion, E. R. Adair (loc. cit., p. 115). Recently Burt has elaborated on his thesis (“The Frontier in Perspective”, loc. cit., pp. 60–68).Google Scholar It still seems to be doubtful whether the difference in social structure between New France and the mother country can be regarded as a result of a frontier in Turner's sense. According to Burt, “the mere fact that the Canadian settler could depart at will enabled him to remain in freedom”. It should be worthwhile investigating whether the existence of the coureurs de bois actually exerted such an influence.

²⁰ Pierson, George W., op. cit., p. 314.Google Scholar

²¹ Craig, Gerald M., ed., Early Travellers in the Canadas (1955), Introduction, p. XXXIII.Google Scholar

²² Landon, F., Western Ontario and the American Frontier (1941), p. 260.Google Scholar

²³ Whereas Egerton Ryerson's life and political activity have been thoroughly dealt with, a scholarly biography of Strachan is still lacking. Parts of his letter-books have been published. A recent appraisal of his beginnings in Spragge, George W., “John Strachan's contribution to Education”, in Canadian Historical Review, vol. 22 (1941).Google Scholar

²⁴ Clark, S. D., Church and Sect in Canada (1948).Google Scholar

²⁵ Ellis, M. H., John MacArthur (1956), p. 206–207.Google Scholar

²⁶ Fitzpatrick, Brian, “The Big Man's Frontier and Australian Farming”, Agricultural History, vol. 21 (1947).Google Scholar

²⁷ Scott, E., A Short History of Australia, rev. ed., 1953, p. 267.Google Scholar

²⁸ Alexander, Fred, op. cit., p. 35.Google Scholar

²⁹ Sharp, Paul F., Pacific Historical Review, loc. cit., p. 371Google Scholar; Burt, A. L., The Frontier in Perspective, loc. cit., pp. 73–75Google Scholar; and H. C. Allen, Bush and Backwoods, A Comparison of the Frontier in Australia and the United States, to be published by Michigan State University Press. This very instructive paper which I had the privilege to read deals particularly in great detail with the features of land settlement in the USA and in Australia.

³⁰ Neumark, S. D., Economic Influences on the South African Frontier (1957), p. 24.Google Scholar

³¹ My criticism is similar to that of Hancock, W. K., “Trek”, Economic History Review, 04 1958Google Scholar: “May it not be more profitable to study proportions? … The important question is quantitative and comparative.” Hancock's article was published when this essay had been written.

³² The establishment of the ports of Port Elizabeth and of Durban did not permanently change the situation, due to the further inland trek of the Boers.

³³ Walker, Eric, The Frontier Tradition in South Africa (1930), p. 4Google Scholar, regards as the most important ingredient of the Boer Frontier “a preoccupation of being constantly on the defensive against they know not what”.

³⁴ Cf. Mode, Peter G., The Frontier Spirit in American Christianity (1923), p. 27–28Google Scholar, for an interesting letter of the Connecticut Missionary Society indicating that work amongst the new settlers had replaced missionary efforts amongst the Indians.

³⁵ Kiewiet, C. W.De, British Colonial Policy and the South African Republics 1848–1872 (1929), p. 61.Google Scholar

³⁶ Cf. John Barrow's travel accounts of 1797 and 1798, quoted by Lobb, John, “Frontier Adjustment in South Africa”, in Studies in the Science of Society, presented to Albert G. Keller, ed. Murdock, George P. (1937), p. 408.Google Scholar

³⁷ Feudal Germany, and Economic and Social History of the Middle Ages, both published in 1928. Of his many articles preliminary to these two books, “East German Colonization in the Middle Ages” (in Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the year 1915) should be especially mentioned

³⁸ Cf. particularly the writings of Aubin, Hermann, Koetzschke-Ebert, , Geschichte der ostdeutschen Kolonisation (1937)Google Scholar and the recent work of Kuhn, Walter, Geschichte der deutschen Ostsiedlung in der Neuzeit (2 vols., 1955 and 1957).Google Scholar The best introduction available in English is Aubin, 's chapter in Cambridge Economic History, vol. I (1941).Google Scholar A more detailed analysis for Northeast Germany in Carsten, F. L., The Origins of Prussia (1954).Google Scholar

³⁹ Aubin, H., “Zur Erforschung der deutschen Ostbewegung”, Deutsches Archiv für Landesund Volksforschung, vol. 1 (1937), p. 67Google Scholar; reprinted as Deutsche Schriften zur Landes- und Volksforschung, vol. 2 (Leipzig, 1939).Google Scholar

⁴⁰ Cf. the most recent analysis of German-Slav interpenetration by Schlesinger, W., “Die geschichtliche Stellung der deutschen Ostbewegung”, Historische Zeitschrift, vol. 183 (1957), 531 ff.CrossRefGoogle Scholar For individual cases of removal cf. Carsten, F. L., op. cit., 32 f.Google Scholar

⁴¹ Thompson, James W., Feudal Germany, p. 527.Google Scholar

⁴² For the first point cf. the writings of Albert Brackmann and his school, for the second Erdmann, Carl, Die Entstehung des Kreuzzugsgedankens (Stuttgart, 1935; second printing Darmstadt, 1955).Google Scholar

⁴³ Cf. the writings of Rudolf Koetzschke and of his school.

⁴⁴ Brunner, Otto, “Europäisches Bauerntum”, in his Neue Wege der Sozialgeschichte (1956).Google Scholar

⁴⁵ Cf. for the forms of settlement the description and illustrations in Quirin, K., Die deutsche Ostsiedlung im Mittelalter (1954)Google Scholar and Aubin, in Cambridge Economic History, I, 377.Google Scholar

⁴⁶ For the von Wedel family, cf. Aubin, in Cambridge Economic History, I, 373Google Scholar and Carsten, F. L., op. cit., 21.Google Scholar Other noble families were native Slav.

⁴⁷ To this attitude of the nobles corresponds the role of the Luebeck merchants in the founding of other Baltic cities. The phases and the duration of the migration are being studied on a linguistic basis, cf. Quirin, , loc. cit., p. 29.Google Scholar That the movement, however, differed from the frequent moving on of the same settlers on the American frontier is evident.

⁴⁸ Bloch, Marc, Les Caractères originaux de l’histoire rurale française (nouv. édition, 1952), I, 5 ff.Google Scholar

⁴⁹ Of recent German investigations cf. particularly Mayer, Th., “Die Entstehung des ‘modernen’ Staates im Mittelalter und die freien Bauern”, in Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte, Germanistische Abteilung, vol. 57 (1937), 210 ff.CrossRefGoogle Scholar For the Flemish lands cf. Lyon, Bryce, “Medieval Real Estate Developments and Freedom” in American Historical Review, 63 (1957), 47CrossRefGoogle Scholar, whose conclusions, however, I would hesitate to accept. The coexistence of seigneurie and village community, even though the latter may have left few traces in the documents of the early Middle Ages, is regarded as basic to medieval government and society by two leading scholars who differ greatly in method and outlook, Marc Bloch and Otto Brunner. The interrelation of these two institutions seems to me to be characteristic for the corporate structure of the Middle Ages and early Modern Time. For the whole problem of “Freedom” in the Middle Ages cf. Grundmann, H., “Freiheit als religioeses, politisches und persoenliches Postulat im Mittelalter”, in Historische Zeitschrift, 183 (1957), 23 ff.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁵⁰ Cf. H. Aubin in Cambridge Economic History I and Quirin, K. H., Herrschaft und Gemeinde nach mitteldeutschen Quellen des 12. bis 18. Jahrhunderts (1952), esp. pp. 23–42Google Scholar, for the transfer of Flemish institutions. A detailed report about research on colonial settlement in the last twenty years was given by Helbig, H. in Jahrbuch fuer die Geschichte Mittel- und Ostdeutschlands, II (1953), p. 293.Google Scholar

⁵¹ Kuhn, , op. cit., I, p. 42.Google Scholar

⁵² The role of the “Gruenderkonsortie”and the importance of the “Gruendungsunternehmerstaedte” has been the topic to which Fritz Roerig devoted his life. A bibliography of his main writings can be found in Städtewesen und Bürgertum als geschichtliche Kräfte. Gedächtnisschrift für Fritz Roerig, Brandt, hg. von A. von und Koppe, W. (Lübeck, 1953).Google Scholar A certain modification of his exclusive thesis is the result of more recent research showing the role of king and princes; cf. Schlesinger, Walter, Die Anfänge der Stadt Chemnitz (1952).Google Scholar

⁵³ I have developed this theme in “Regionalismus und ständisches Wesen als ein Grundthema europaischer Geschichte”, Historische Zeitschrift, vol. 174 (1952), p. 307–337Google Scholar, and in “Periodization in European History”, American Historical Review, vol. 61 (1956).Google Scholar

⁵⁴ To what extent Thompson's reference to a sequence of frontiers in the early period of the “Old East” is valid, I cannot say.

⁵⁵ “Wirtschaftsgeschichtliche Bemerkungen zur ostdeutschen Kolonisation” in Aus Sozialund Wirtschaftsgeschichte. Gedächtnisschrift für Georg von Below (Stuttgart, 1928), p. 192.Google Scholar

⁵⁶ The most recent criticism of Kliuchevskii's interpretation, with regard to the peasantry, in Grekov, D. B., Krestianie na Russi, vol. II (1954), p. 72.Google Scholar For Kliuchevskii's place in Russian historiography see Karpovich, M., “Klyuchevskii and Recent Trends in Russian Historiography” in The Slavonic and East European Review, vol. 21 (1943), pp. 31–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁵⁷ Stoekl, G., Die Entstehung des Kosakentums (1953).Google Scholar

⁵⁸ Nolde, Boris, La Formation de l’Empire Russe, vol. I (1952).Google Scholar

⁵⁹ The participation of Old Believers in uprisings of the frontier in the later seventeenth and eighteenth centuries is frequently mentioned. In the nineteenth century Siberia seems to have been a fertile ground for sects.

⁶⁰ Fisher, Raymond H., The Russian Fur Trade 1550–1700 (1943)Google Scholar; Lantzeff, G., Siberia in the Seventeenth Century (1943).Google Scholar

⁶¹ For the nature of early settlement see Lobanov-Rostovsky, A. in The Frontier in Perspective, loc. cit., pp. 82–85.Google Scholar

⁶² Raeff, Marc, Siberia and the Reforms of 1822 (1956), p. 157.Google Scholar

⁶³ Treadgold, Donald W., The Great Siberian Migration (1957)Google Scholar, and Treadgold, , “Russian Expansion in the light of Turner's Study of the American Frontier” in Agricultural History, vol. 26 (1952).Google Scholar

⁶⁴ Cf. Treadgold, The Great Siberian Migration, 230, for the limited scope of “equalizing” in the Siberian Commune of the late nineteenth century.

⁶⁵ The same arguments pertain to the interesting and much criticized book by Webb, Walter P., The Great Frontier (1952)Google Scholar, which gives to Turner's thesis an application to the whole course of Modern History.

For New Zealand, which is not dealt with in this article, cf. Coleman, Peter, “The New Zealand Frontier and the Turner Thesis”, in Pacific Historical Review, vol. 27 (1958).CrossRefGoogle Scholar He stresses the conceptions of the settlers as more influential than the environment in shaping New Zealand society.

After this essay had been written, Nadel, George's Australia's Colonial Culture (1957)Google Scholar was published. This impressive study of mid-nineteenth century Eastern Australia shows that belief in popular education, nationalism based on ethical concepts of society, and trust in state support were the formative forces in Australian society. British traditions as well as colonial conditions contributed to this blend, but no “Frontier” spirit in Turner's sense.