Recognition and Rights of Indigenous Peoples has been developed especially for senior secondary students of History and is part of the Nelson Modern History series. Each book in the series is based on the understanding that History is an interpretive study of the past by which students also come to better appreciate the making of the modern world. Developing understandings of the past and present in senior History extends on the skills learnt in earlier years. Senior students will use historical skills, including research, evaluation, synthesis, analysis and communication. Students will rely on their knowledge of the historical concepts such as evidence, continuity and change, cause and effect, significance, empathy, perspectives and contestability, to understand and interpret societies from the past. The activities and tasks have been written to ensure that students develop the skills and attributes required for senior History subjects. Recognition and Rights of Indigenous Peoples explores two distinct yet related experiences, those of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians and the New Zealand Maori and their respective struggles for civil, social and indigenous rights. Both case studies consider the impact of European settlement, dispossession and the denial of political and cultural rights. The emergence of modern rights movements in Australia and New Zealand and the struggle to secure land rights are also addressed in this journey of self-determination.