How convict labour forged empires

HistoryExtra podcast

HistoryExtra

History

4.3 • 4.7K Ratings

🗓️ 20 December 2024

⏱️ 36 minutes

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Summary

Think of the transportation of convicts, and your mind probably goes to the arrival of the First Fleet in Australia in 1788. But, as historian Clare Anderson reveals in this episode, convict transportation is actually a much wider historical phenomenon. Speaking to Elinor Evans, Clare dives into the lesser-known aspects of this story, revealing how Britain’s penal system extended far beyond Australia to colonies across south-east Asia and beyond, revealing a complex network of forced labour, colonisation, and racial hierarchies that reshaped entire regions. (Ad) Clare Anderson is the author of Convicts: A Global History (Cambridge University Press, 2022). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Convicts-Global-History-Clare-Anderson/dp/1108814948/?tag=bbchistory045-21&ascsubtag=historyextra-social-histboty. From criminal sentencing to colonial settlement, Nancy Cushing answers listener questions on the transportation of British convicts to Australia here: https://link.chtbl.com/pvs5BrKN. The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is presented by eBay.
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0:49.3	Welcome to the History Extra podcast, fascinating historical conversations from the makers of BBC History magazine. Think about the transportation of Combex and your mind probably goes to the arrival of the first fleet in Australia.
0:59.2	But as today's expert guest reveals, the history of convict transportation is actually a much wider historical phenomenon.
1:08.0	From the spice plantations of Indonesia to dockyards in Bermuda,
1:13.1	convicts were sent to the farthest reaches of empire and often worked under brutal conditions,
1:19.2	building roads, reclaiming land, even participating in scientific experiments. Claire Anderson,
1:26.5	Professor of History at the University of Lester,
1:29.3	is the author of a new book, Convicts, A Global History. And she joined Eleanor Evans to explain more.
1:36.3	The idea of transportation of the mobility of convicts, of penal mobility, in Britain at least,
1:42.3	is often bound up with the idea of transportation to Australia
1:45.4	in the late 18th and into the 19th century. Claire, I wondered if we could start by hearing from you
1:50.9	about the broader scope of this history that you're looking at with this book, the time that we're
1:55.5	looking at and the geographical span as well. Yeah, thanks so much, Eleanor, and thanks so much for having me on this show today.
2:02.0	You're right, when we think about penal transportation and whenever I mention my work,
	...

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