Before Australia was "discovered" to which place did Britain used to send its prisoners?

Rupert22

I don't believe they did. The reason for transporting criminals to Australia was because of overcrowding of rusting hulks due to the expansion of crime in Britain. The increase in crime can be contributed to the rise of industry because of the industrial revolution - hence crime in large urban areas. All these criminals had to go somewhere so they put them in the hulks. Of course, then the British government had a ready supply of labour to send to the new colony, Australia. Jun 19 07, 1:40 AM

srini701

Thanks, Rupert! I thought the USA was the earlier destination, but then learnt the USA was founded on different grounds! Jun 19 07, 2:29 AM

Baloo55th

Prisoners were transported to North America - before the United States came into being. And here's a British Government site to back it up! http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/familyhistory/guide/ancestorslaw/prisoners.htm From 1615 to 1776, the mainland colonies were the destination, then the Caribbean, and only after 1787 Australia. By the way, Rupert's 'rusting' hulks should be 'rotting' as there weren't that many iron clads around at the time. The hulks were old sailing ships with masts and gear removed and then used as prisons. They're thinking about reintroducing prison ships - but they'll be a bit more comfortable than the old hulks were. Jun 19 07, 3:46 AM

Baloo55th

Reading further down the page, the hulks were introduced in 1776 when they couldn't send the prisoners to America any more, and as many of the death sentences passed for what we would now regard as trivial offences (unless we were the victims in person) were commuted to transportation they had a storage problem. Industrialisation was only just coming in - the Iron Bridge was built in 1779, and Arkwright's mill at Cromford in 1771. The large industrial centre came later - Cromford is out in the country and so was Ironbridge until they comparatively recently built Telford around it. Jun 19 07, 3:56 AM

temujin2020

I had always thought that Georgia was founded as a British penal colony, but all wikipedia mentions are a few debtors that Oglethorpe brought there to stay out of debtors prisons. If anyone knows more, please let me know. Thanks ! Jun 19 07, 2:09 PM