Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
WDCT 10-14 January 2011 (1836-1840)
Wraith11B:
Also, I'm from Arlington, VA. That means I'm from the North. No one considers it the South except if you're from, say, Philadelphia or higher.
Border Reiver:
--- Quote from: Odin on 17 Jan 2011, 03:10 ---How does it feel to be so close to another one of England's penal colonies?
--- End quote ---
'Cept NZ was never a penal colony, so the use of another would imply that there is one other than the smallest of continents nearby.
Odin:
--- Quote from: Border Reiver on 17 Jan 2011, 05:49 ---
--- Quote from: Odin on 17 Jan 2011, 03:10 ---How does it feel to be so close to another one of England's penal colonies?
--- End quote ---
'Cept NZ was never a penal colony, so the use of another would imply that there is one other than the smallest of continents nearby.
--- End quote ---
The US was also one, that was the joke (even though I was referencing Australia).
Holy crap that one shouldn't have required an explanation.
Border Reiver:
None of the North American colonies were penal in nature.
The NA colonies were economically important to England, as sources of food and naval stores, but also as places where furs could be procured cheaply to be sold in Europe at high prices. Very few prisoners were transported to North America. France controlled the majority of the continent (or at least access to it) prior to 1763, which meant that starting a population of persons whose loyalty to the Crown would be questionable was not a viable consideration, and then there was that whole inconvenience of the American Revolution which would have discouraged such an idea.
If you're going to start a penal colony you need to make sure it's hard to get away from (and Australia certainly was at the time of penal colonies), that there is little likelyhood that your political opponents will be able to show up and say,"Want to go take a swing at the bastards that put you here?" And that if there is a problem with the colonists that such problems do not interfere with vital economic resources.
jwhouk:
Uh, actually Georgia was something of a penal colony at the time, but more as an alternative to debtor's prison.
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