We all know that China is the only country in the world with an uninterrupted ancient civilization. As Chinese, we are very proud of this. There are still some emerging countries in the world that do not have a long history or an upright life, but they are still developing very w

At the end of the 18th century, 24,000 British female prisoners were exiled to Australia. Australians: They are the founding mothers of the country.

We all know that China is the only country in the world with an uninterrupted ancient civilization. As Chinese, we feel very proud of this. pride. There are still some emerging countries in the world that do not have a long history or an upright life, but they are still developing very well, such as the United States, the descendants of bandits, and Australia, the descendants of prisoners.

In the late 18th century, the British sent a large number of female prisoners to Australia, and these female prisoners became the founding mothers of Australia. So why do they send female prisoners to Australia? Where have all the original inhabitants of Australia gone? Are all current Australians really descendants of convicts? Let us find out next.

British colonial movement

The two countries have many similarities. For example, they are both dominated by white people and were once British colonies. Many people know the origin of Americans. When Columbus discovered the New World, Europeans broke in one after another. They plundered resources, slaughtered indigenous people, and turned the American continent into their own colony. Nowadays, the number of indigenous residents in their country is very small, even less than 2%.

Australia has a similar fate. Britain was just an ordinary island country in Europe at first, but the enclosure movement after the 15th century brought about rapid economic development . The aristocracy not only gained wealth through this A large amount of primitive accumulation also promoted the continuous reform of production methods. After

, with the improvement of steam engine , they took the lead in entering the first industrial revolution . This revolution was of great significance and brought Britain into a glorious period. Since then, their economy has begun to lead the world.

The development of industrial technology promoted their navigation. The British started colonial invasion activities through advanced navigation technology. Their footprints spread all over the world, seizing a large amount of territory, plundering resources and building factories here.

However, as the colonies continued to expand and capital accumulated more and more, some domestic problems also appeared . The population grew rapidly, the gap between rich and poor was too large, and the number of unemployed people increased, which became the main contradiction of society at that time.

Some people have great wealth, but others cannot afford to eat. Those who have no jobs and cannot afford to eat have no choice but to resort to robbery and theft to make ends meet. So the British society was very chaotic at that time, and the crime rate was rising .

Prisoners were exiled

In order to solve this problem, they sent these captured criminals to the colonies for economic construction. At first, the place they chose was North America, so a steady stream of prisoners were sent here. They worked on farms everywhere and gradually gained their own power.

The British never expected that these people would rebel after taking control of the power, so the independence movement began. The colonial rule in North America was crumbling, and it was no longer the best choice for exile.

So they set their sights on a new colony, Australia. Due to the difficult and dangerous environment in Australia, there are not many aborigines. The British easily occupied it after they arrived.

They were worried that no one would build this place, so they thought of these prisoners. After discussion, the decision was finally made, and the first batch of prisoners were transported to Australia. There were more than 700 prisoners in total, most of them were men.

These people were of course very happy to be able to escape punishment. After they came here, they followed the orders and started development activities. Although Australia is a vast area, there are many venomous snakes and wild beasts, which has brought great obstacles to their development activities.

However, fortunately, the land here is fertile and very suitable for the development of agriculture and animal husbandry, so these prisoners struggled with the dangerous environment while developing the land.

After seeing the results, the British continued to transport prisoners over. As the number of prisoners continued to increase and their lives gradually stabilized, new problems also emerged.

Female prisoners

For production, most of the prisoners sent by the British were male, which led to a serious imbalance in the ratio of men to women in society. In order to compete for women, these prisoners had more and more conflicts, and even led to more serious conflicts. Crime , Australia, which has finally developed, has once again fallen into chaos.

In order to solve this problem, the British decided to adjust the transportation ratio, then decided to transport a group of female prisoners to Australia . They gathered female prisoners from various prisons and put them on ships.

This group of female prisoners is about 200 people, and the number of male prisoners in Australia is already tens of thousands, so as soon as they arrived, they caused an even more serious robbery. In desperation, the British could only continue to transport female prisoners.

However, female prisoners were a minority after all. In order to balance the ratio, they could only continuously reduce the number of male prisoners , so the way they treated male prisoners at that time was cruel. In the eyes of the colonists, the number of male prisoners was so large that it They are not afraid of death, so they continue to squeeze their labor force. If they are found to be lazy or sick, they will be whipped or directly killed.

The treatment of female prisoners is slightly better. Their work is relatively easy, but they still need to wear shackles. If they get married or become pregnant, they can be free .

However, after they were freed, they would also be reduced to reproductive tools. According to data, at that time, each of these female prisoners had to give birth to more than six children on average. These children grew up to become the founders of Australia. By the mid-19th century, 24,000 female prisoners had been transported here. These female prisoners were also called the founding mothers of Australia by subsequent Australians.

Descendants of prisoners

Most people in Australia today are descendants of these prisoners. Speaking of this, I thought of an incident last year. Australia's Prime Minister Morrison wanted to find his ancestors while going to the UK to attend the summit. But what I didn't expect was that after reading through the previous generations, I discovered that my grandfather was once a prisoner. He was exiled to Australia by the British for committing theft.

After this incident was exposed, the idea that Australians are descendants of prisoners gradually spread again. Chinese netizens also joked that no wonder they like to break their contracts with us. Now the reason has been found. Although this is a joke, it also confirms the true origin of Australians.

Conclusion

Although these 24,000 women are called the founding mothers of the country, they cannot hide the fact that the British were guilty. In fact, many of these prisoners made small mistakes, but the colonists deprived them of their freedom for personal gain. , it would be too cruel to make them suffer for their whole lives.