PART II EMIGRANT PERSPECTIVE
PART II AMERICA: AN IRISH EMIGRANT PERSPECTIVE
Fig. 15. Disturnell’s new map of the United States and Canada. 1850. Library of Congress. INTRODUCTION Once shipping stabilized after the 1803-15 Napoleonic Wars and the 1812-14 War of 1812, the options for Irish emigration were North America 3,000-miles across the Atlantic, mainland Britain just across the Irish Sea, or 14,000-miles to Australia. The British option was tempered by the reality of mainland natives also seeking to emigrate. The British government chose Australia as a strategic outpost in support of consolidation of the Empire and as a solution to the prison problem at home, having lost the ability to transport convicts to the American colonies - recently renamed the United States of America. The London government established the Penal Colonies of Port Jackson, NSW (replacing Botany Bay) in 1788, and Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) in 1803. Continuing to address the challenges of overpopulation, unemployment and crime at home, the government determined to further develop the Australia of penal colonies into a productive British territory, offering incentives in the early 1800s for British settlement, with a ready supply of inexpensive convict labor. The Australian gold rushes in the 1850s would subsequently be incentive enough to attract migrants from all over the world. As a result, it would not be until the 1870s that the native-born (non-aboriginal) Australian population would exceed the migrant population.
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