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A Merciless Place: The Fate of Britain's Convicts after the American Revolution

2012; Oxford University Press; Volume: 99; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1093/jahist/jas171

1945-2314

Frank Cogliano,

Colonialism, slavery, and trade

The major theme of oceanic history that has emerged over the past generation has been the interconnectedness of people, objects, and ideas. It is fitting that historians living and operating in a transnational world of instantaneous communication and social media should discover the roots of globalization in the eighteenth century, when so many key elements of the modern world came into focus through trade, revolution, and violence. This oceanic approach makes it impossible to confine major events, such as the American Revolution, within the narrow parameters of national historiographies. Emma Christopher's A Merciless Place is a notable contribution to this literature. The story Christopher tells is relatively straightforward. During the closing stages of the American War of Independence, the British experimented with sending convicts to the west coast of Africa. The first convicts were sent as members of two army units, raised to defend the interests of the Company of Merchants Trading to Africa. The convict soldiers were used to attack Dutch trading forts on the Gold Coast. Disease, indiscipline, and conflict with the company—which feared the convicts might disrupt and undermine the slave trade—rendered the experiment a failure. After the American war the British again tried to send convicts to Africa, without a clear idea of what they would do when they arrived. This effort, too, ended in failure. With America no longer an option and having failed in Africa, the British sought another destination for their felons. In 1788 the British began sending convicts to Botany Bay in eastern Australia where they helped colonize New South Wales.