This work is an examination of British imperial policy and attitudes towards the original inhabitants in the American colonies, New South Wales and the Cape colony of South Africa. A comparative study of the formative phase in this area of policy, it covers the period between the mid-eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, examining and comparing the development of policy in each of the three geographical regions and tracing the legal and intellectual context within which this policy took shape. It suggests an important shift of attitude towards indigenous peoples in the course of the period covered – a change that had a major impact on political perceptions and policy formation.