Editing Northern Territory (section)

===Pre-colonial===
{{further|Prehistory of Australia|History of Indigenous Australians|Makassan contact with Australia}}
Humans have lived in the present area of the Northern Territory since at least 48,400 to 68,700 years ago.<ref name="Clarkson Jacobs Marwick Fullagar 2017 pp. 306–310">{{cite journal | last1=Clarkson | first1=Chris | last2=Jacobs | first2=Zenobia | last3=Marwick | first3=Ben | last4=Fullagar | first4=Richard | last5=Wallis | first5=Lynley | last6=Smith | first6=Mike | last7=Roberts | first7=Richard G. | last8=Hayes | first8=Elspeth | last9=Lowe | first9=Kelsey | last10=Carah | first10=Xavier | last11=Florin | first11=S. Anna | last12=McNeil | first12=Jessica | last13=Cox | first13=Delyth | last14=Arnold | first14=Lee J. | last15=Hua | first15=Quan | last16=Huntley | first16=Jillian | last17=Brand | first17=Helen E. A. | last18=Manne | first18=Tiina | last19=Fairbairn | first19=Andrew | last20=Shulmeister | first20=James | last21=Lyle | first21=Lindsey | last22=Salinas | first22=Makiah | last23=Page | first23=Mara | last24=Connell | first24=Kate | last25=Park | first25=Gayoung | last26=Norman | first26=Kasih | last27=Murphy | first27=Tessa | last28=Pardoe | first28=Colin | title=Human occupation of northern Australia by 65,000 years ago | journal=Nature | publisher=Springer Nature | volume=547 | issue=7663 | year=2017 | issn=0028-0836 | doi=10.1038/nature22968 | pmid=28726833 | pages=306–310 | bibcode=2017Natur.547..306C | url=https://digital.library.adelaide.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/2440/107043/2/hdl_107043.pdf | hdl=2440/107043 | s2cid=205257212 | hdl-access=free | access-date=24 September 2019 | archive-date=25 October 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191025030937/https://digital.library.adelaide.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/2440/107043/2/hdl_107043.pdf | url-status=live }}</ref>

From the 17th or 18th century AD onwards, traders from [[Sulawesi]] established extensive seasonal trade links with the [[Indigenous Australians|Indigenous]] peoples of [[Kimberley (Western Australia)|Kimberley region]], the modern-day Northern Territory, and [[Arnhem Land]].<ref name="Macknight-2011">{{cite journal | title = The view from Marege': Australian knowledge of Makassar and the impact of the trepangindustry across two centuries
 | last = Macknight | first = Charles Campbell
 | journal = [[Aboriginal History]]
 | year = 2011 | volume = 35 | pages = 121–143
 | jstor = 24046930
| doi = 10.22459/AH.35.2011.06
| doi-access = free}}</ref> They collected ''trepang'' ([[sea cucumber]]) for Chinese markets and introduced several goods and technologies to the Indigenous peoples.<ref name="Macknight-2011"/> There is significant evidence of contact with [[Makassar people|Makassan]] fishers in examples of [[Indigenous Australian rock art]] and [[bark painting]] of northern Australia, with the Makassan ''[[perahu]]'' a prominent feature.{{sfn|Taçon|May|Fallon|Travers|2010}}<ref>{{cite news |last=Woodford |first=J. |work=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]] |date=20 September 2008 |title=The Rock Art That Redraws Our History |url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/the-rock-art-that-redraws-our-history/2008/09/19/1221331206960.html |access-date=6 April 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080920040854/http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/the-rock-art-that-redraws-our-history/2008/09/19/1221331206960.html |archive-date=20 September 2008}}</ref>
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