What is the history of Australia? Let's take a brief look at the events that are associated with its discovery. Some researchers express their assumptions, according to which, the first Europeans who reached the coast of Australia at the beginning of the seventeenth century were the Portuguese.

What is the history of the discovery and exploration of Australia? Briefly this information presented in encyclopedias, but they do not interesting moments, which confirm the interest of travelers to this territory. Among the evidence that it was the Portuguese who became the discoverers of Australia, the following arguments can be made:

1. Maps of Dieppe, which were published in the middle of the 16th century in France, contain an image of a large land area between Antarctica and Indonesia, called Java la Grande. All explanations and symbols on the map are in Portuguese and French.
2. At the beginning of the sixteenth century, Portuguese colonies were located in Southeast Asia. For example, the island of Timor, which is located 650 kilometers from the Australian coast, was attributed precisely to Portuguese travelers.

French "trace"

What else Interesting Facts contains the history of the discovery of Australia and Oceania? We will also briefly tell that the French navigator Binot Polmier de Gonneville told that it was he who landed on unknown lands near the Cape of Good Hope in 1504. This happened after his ship blew the winds off the intended course. Thanks to this statement, it was this traveler who was credited with the discovery of Australia for a long time. After some time, it was found out that he was on the coast of Brazil.

Discovery of Australia by the Dutch

Let's continue the conversation about what is the history of the discovery of Australia and Oceania. Let us dwell briefly on the first indisputable fact documented in the winter of 1606. The expedition of the Dutch East India Company, led by Willem Janson, managed, together with his comrades, to land on the coast from the ship Dove. After sailing from the island of Java, they went to the southern part of New Guinea, moving along it, the Dutch expedition managed after some time to reach the shores of the Cape York Peninsula, located in northern Australia. The team members were confident that they were still off the coast of New Guinea.

It is the history of the development of Australia that is briefly considered in school course by geography. The expedition did not see which divides the coast of Australia and New Guinea. On February 26, members of the team landed near the site where the city of Weipa is currently located. The Dutch were immediately attacked by the natives. Later, Janson and his men explored about 350 kilometers of the coast of Australia, sometimes making landfalls. His crew constantly ran into hostile natives, so several Dutch sailors were killed during fierce battles with the natives. The captain decided to return. He never realized that he and his team managed to discover a new continent. Since Janson, in describing his exploration of the coast, described it as a swampy and deserted place, no one attached much importance to his new discovery. The East India Company sent out expeditions in the hope of enriching themselves with jewels and spices, and not at all for serious geographical discoveries.

Luis Vaes de Torres

Describing briefly the history of the exploration of Australia, one can also say about how this traveler moved through the same strait through which Janson's team first passed. Geographers have suggestions that Torres and his comrades managed to visit the northern coast of the continent, but no written confirmation of this hypothesis has been found. After some time, the strait began to be called Torres in honor of Luis Vaez de Torres.

Notable expeditions

The story of the discovery and exploration of Australia is also of interest, briefly telling about the voyage of the next ship of the Dutch East India Company, which was driven by Dirk Hartog. In 1616, the ship managed to reach the western coast of Australia, near Shark Bay. For three days, sailors explored the coast, and explored the nearby islands. The Dutch found nothing of interest, so Hartog decided to continue sailing north along a coastline that had not been explored before. The team then headed to Batavia.

Where is the history of the discovery of Australia described? Briefly, grade 7 studies information about expeditions here from Europe in the 16-17 centuries. For example, educators talk about how in 1619 Jacob d'Erdel and Frederick de Houtman went on two ships to explore the Australian coast. As they moved north, they discovered a band of reefs called Houtman's Rock.

Continued research

After this expedition, other Dutch sailors repeatedly found themselves near these shores, calling the land New Holland. They did not even try to explore the coast, as they did not find any commercial interest here.

The beautiful coastline, even if it aroused their curiosity, clearly did not stimulate them to explore what useful resources Australia has. The history of the country briefly tells about the exploration of the northern and western coasts. The Dutch concluded that the northern lands were barren and unsuitable for use. The sailors did not see the eastern and southern coasts at that time, so Australia was undeservedly recognized as uninteresting for use.

First buildings

In the summer of 1629, the Batavia, an East India Company ship, was shipwrecked off the Houtman Rocks. Soon there was a mutiny, as a result of which a small fort was built by part of the crew for protection. It became the first European construction in Australia. Geographers suggest that at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries, about fifty European ships reached the territory of Australia.

The history of the development and settlement of Australia briefly tells about the discoveries made by ships. In 1642, he tried to go around New Holland from the south, while discovering an island called Van Diemen's Land. Some time later it was renamed Tasmania. With the subsequent advance to the east, after some time, the ships ended up near New Zealand. Tasman's first voyage was not successful; travelers failed to approach Australia.

The history of Australia briefly tells that Tasman was able to study the northwest coast in detail only in 1644, to prove that all the lands that were discovered and analyzed in earlier expeditions are constituent parts one mainland.

English studies

The history of Australia briefly notes the English contribution to its study. Until the second half of the seventeenth century, there was practically no information in England about the lands that were discovered by Dutch travelers. In 1688, a pirate ship carrying an Englishman, William Dampier, ended up on the northwest coast, near Lake Melville. This fact has been preserved by the history of Australia. Briefly, the surviving records say that after the repair, the ship returned to England. Here, Dampier published a story about the journey, which aroused genuine interest among the English Admiralty.

In 1699, Dampier set out on a second voyage to the coast of Australia on the ship Roebuck. But as part of this trip, he did not find anything interesting, so the Admiralty decided to stop funding the expedition.

Cook's expedition

Talking about the history of the discovery of Australia, one cannot leave without due attention the expedition of 1170, led by Lieutenant James Cook. On the sailboat "Attempt" his team went to the South Pacific. The official purpose of the expedition was to make astronomical observations, but in fact Cook received from the Admiralty the task of studying the southern part of the continent. Cook believed that since New Holland has a west coast, therefore, there must be an east coast.

At the end of April 1770, an English expedition landed on east coast Australia. The landing site was first named Stingray Bay, then it was renamed Botany Bay because of the unusual plants that were found there.

The open lands were named New Wales by Cook, and then the New Englishman did not even realize how massive the discovery he made was.

British colonies

The lands that Cook discovered were decided to be colonized, using them as the first colonies for convicts. The fleet, led by Captain Arthur Philip, included 11 ships. He arrived in Australia in January 1788, but, recognizing the region as inconvenient for settlement, they moved north. Governor Philip issued an order establishing the first British colony in Australia. The soils around Sydney Harbor were not suitable for farming, so farms were established near the Parramatta River.

The second fleet, which arrived in Australia in 1790, brought here different materials and supplies. During the journey, 278 convicts and crew members died, so in history it is called the "Death Fleet".

In 1827, a small British settlement was built at King Georges Sound by Major Edmund Lockyer. He became the first governor of a colony created for convicts.

South Australia was founded in 1836. It was not intended for convicts, but some of the former prisoners moved here from other colonies.

Conclusion

It was mastered almost fifty thousand years before its official discovery by European travelers. For more than one century, people with an original culture and religion have lived in the waterless deserts and tropical jungles of the continent. After the colonization of the Australian coast, a period of active exploration of the territory began. Among the first serious researchers who managed to study the channels of the rivers Macquarie, Lochlan, geographers name John Oxley. Robert Burke became the first Englishman to cross the mainland from north to south. The discovery of Australia was the result of a centuries-old search for the Dutch, Portuguese, and British of the Southern country.

In 2006, archaeologists discovered ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs in Australia. This fact led to the promotion of an original hypothesis about the discovery of the contingent by the Egyptians.

Scientists agreed that 1606 can be considered the most likely time for the discovery of Australia. It was then that the famous Dutchman V. Janszon explored the northeastern part - the Cape York Peninsula.

The history of the settlement of Australia is briefly described in this material. Until now, it is associated with numerous mysteries that scientists have yet to solve. For example, guns found during archaeological sites, give reason to believe that the Portuguese visited this territory in the fifteenth century. A complete map of the British colony, which was Australia, scientists managed to draw up only at the beginning of the last century.

“Very often great events taking place in one part of the world affect the lives of people living thousands and thousands of kilometers away. This happened with the colonization of Australia and the transformation of the Green Continent into one of the most interesting, comfortable countries for living on our planet.

It began with a revolution in America, during which a new state appeared on the world map - the United States, uniting 13 states under a common flag, in which emigrants from Europe lived. Having lost the war in which the United States gained independence, England lost most of its possessions in North America.

The British government thought - where, in fact, to exile criminals? English prisons are overcrowded, you can no longer send dashing people to America ... And the British decided to populate distant Australia with condemned robbers.

On the one hand, a similar method of colonization of overseas territories was proposed not by anyone, but by Christopher Columbus. On the other hand, the farther from London the prison is, the calmer London will feel.

This landmark decision was made in 1786. And two years later, on January 18, 1788, at the height of the southern summer, a squadron of ships arrived to the shores of Australia, in the holds of which languished 778 criminals - the first settlers of the Australian continent. On the same ships, a team of overseers and the governor of New South Wales, Captain Arthur Philip, arrived. On January 26, the first prisoners and their guards descended to the ground - this day is celebrated by Australians as a national holiday.

Through the efforts of Arthur Philip, the first city of Australia, Sydney, was laid. It was founded on the shores of the same Port Jackson Bay, in which the expedition stood, literally 10 kilometers from the place where he met the first natives. The name of the city was chosen in honor of the then Minister of the Interior and the Colonies, Lord T. Sidney. On February 7, 1788, the governor of New South Wales established the administration of a colony extending from Sydney to Cape York, including both the nearest islands and the adjacent inland territories. On February 14, a detachment of soldiers led by Lieutenant Philip King is sent to Norfolk to develop it, since it was decided to arrange a colony for exiles there as well. A few years later, in 1794, one of the research expeditions equipped by the authorities reaches the mountains on the eastern side of the mainland. In October 1798, the doctor Basho and Lieutenant Flinders circled the island of Tasmania and partially explored its territory ...

Sydney at the end of the 18th century was a few dirty streets, but later the authorities decided to ennoble the city, giving it a typical British look. Years after the founding of Sydney, the Royal Botanic Gardens were laid out - one of the main attractions of the city. And then the whole old Sydney, which is now the Roque area, was rebuilt.

The history of the appearance of the main observation deck of the city is interesting. The then Governor McGuire could not refuse anything to his capricious wife, who loved beautiful views. Especially for her, a special seat was carved into the rock on the picturesque coast, which was later nicknamed "Ms. McGuire's chair."

Australia is an amazing continent. The smallest of all existing, but at the same time huge for one country. The most remote from the centers of world civilizations, but with a favorable climate for living. The greenest because of the luxurious eucalyptus forests in the eastern part and completely deserted in the western part (moreover, the deserts of Australia are considered the most lifeless on the planet). There are almost no dangerous predators on the territory of Australia (except for crocodiles), but there are a lot of poisonous spiders (and the real scourge of the northwestern regions of the continent is ... ordinary flies!). Thanks to tens of thousands of years of absolute isolation from other continents, Australia has developed a unique animal world, consisting of ancient species, extinct on other continents (we are talking primarily about marsupials). But all these features of Australia had to be learned.

Melbourne was founded in 1835. Curiously, two largest cities Australia (and Sydney today is home to 3.5 million people - 20 percent of the total population of the country) has competed for the status of the capital for many years. Fuel was added to the fire by the decision of the Constitutional Assembly to hold meetings in Melbourne, and not in Sydney. The dispute was resolved in a non-trivial way - in 1909, small Canberra, located between Sydney and Melbourne, was chosen as the capital.

For half a century, ships filled with convicts went to Australia from England. There were few free settlers in the country - even the very first settlement, founded by Arthur Philip, consisted of 70 percent of convicts. Only the discovery of gold deposits in the early 50s of the XIX century caused an influx of free colonists. Prospectors poured into Australia, and the population of the colonies quadrupled in just a few years. Free colonists are fighting to stop the deportations of criminals that continued in individual states until 1868. If to late XIX centuries in Australia it was difficult to find a person whose immediate ancestors would not be connected with the prison - as prisoners, exiles or guards, then today it is considered a special privilege to be a descendant of a criminal exiled to Australia. And this is also one of the features of this amazing country.

What about New Zealand? The first settlement of Europeans here was created only in 1820. The fauna of New Zealand is less rich than that of Australia.

Nadezhdin N.Ya., Encyclopedia of geographical discoveries, M., "Belfry-MG", 2008, p. 335-337.

July 29, 1938 territory Federal Capital(Federal Capital Territory) renamed the Australian Capital Territory (Australian Capital Territory). "Amateur" tells the story of the conquest of the continent by Europeans.

First steps in the discovery of Australia by Europeans

The first Europeans to enter Australia were probably the Portuguese navigators. There is evidence that they visited the western, northern and northeastern coasts of Australia as early as the first half of the 16th century.
Sections of the coast of Australia are already depicted on some maps of the 16th century. (for example, on the map of the Atlas of Nicholas Vallard of 1547). However, before the beginning of the XVII century. these visits to Australia were most likely accidental.

The first Europeans to enter Australia were the Portuguese.

From the beginning of the 17th century the continent attracts the attention of several European powers at once.

In 1606, a Spanish expedition led by Luis Vaes Torres discovered the strait separating Australia from New Guinea (Torres Strait).

At the same time, Dutch navigators also joined the exploration of Australia. In 1606, the Gulf of Carpentaria and the coast of the Cape York Peninsula were surveyed by the expedition of the Dutchman Willem Jansson. The purpose of the expedition was to explore the southern part of New Guinea.


In 1616, another Dutchman, Derk Hartog, landed on the coast of Western Australia. Further expeditions to the coast of Australia were equipped by Dutch sailors in 1623, 1627, 1629. TO early XVIII century, by the efforts of Dutch, English and French navigators, the western coast of Australia was explored and mapped. No attempts were made to settle the territory during this period. The open lands were named New Holland.

By the beginning of the 18th century, the western coast of Australia was mapped

In 1642-1643. the Dutchman Abel Tasman sailed with the aim of further exploring Australia. In this expedition, Tasman could not come close to the shores of the continent, but discovered the western coast of the island of Tasmania.

In 1644, Tasman made a second voyage, during which he mapped 4.7 thousand km of the northern coast of Australia and proved that all the lands discovered by the Dutch earlier were part of one mainland.

British exploration of Australia

The English artist, writer and pirate William Dampier, sailing under a pirate flag, in 1688 accidentally stumbled upon the west coast of Australia.

Upon returning to his homeland, W. Dampier published notes about his journey, where he spoke about what he saw. From that moment on, the British also began to show interest in New Holland. U. Dampiru was allocated a ship from the Royal Navy, and he led an expedition to the shores of the mainland.

However, this attempt by the British ended unsuccessfully, except for the discovery of pearl shells, which subsequently brought significant benefits to the English treasury. In 1768
preparations began for a large Pacific scientific expedition led by James Cook. She started in 1769 on the ship Endeavor, and in 1770 Cook discovered the southeast coast of Australia, declared the entire east coast of Australia discovered by him a British possession and called it New South Wales.

After Cook's voyage in England, they decided to colonize the open country

Shortly after Cook's voyage to England, it was decided to colonize the country he had discovered. Of decisive importance was the independence of the 13 North American colonies.

Thus, England lost not only the vast territories of the New World, but also the opportunity to send exiles there. That is why the initial development of Australia took place in the form of the organization of hard labor settlements there.

The settlement of Australia by Europeans and the continuation of the "development" of the continent

On January 26, 1788, Captain Arthur Phillip, appointed Governor of New South Wales, founded the settlement of Sydney Cove, which became the predecessor of the city of Sydney. With his squadron, the first European settlers arrived on the mainland - 850 prisoners and 200 soldiers. Currently, this event is celebrated as the beginning of the history of modern Australia and a national holiday - Australia Day.


The first group of "free" settlers from England arrived in 1793, but until the middle of the 19th century. their proportion among Europeans in Astralia was small. Thus began the gradual settlement of Australia. The British colony included not only Australia, but also New Zealand. The settlement of Tasmania began in 1803. early XIX V. The British opened the strait separating Tasmania from Australia. In 1814, navigator Matthew Flinders suggested calling the southern mainland Australia (Terra Australis). From the end of the XVIII century. and throughout the 19th century. continued exploration of the interior of the continent.

In 1827, the government of England officially announced the establishment of British sovereignty over the entire continent. The center of the British presence was the southeast coast of the mainland with the islands, the colony of New South Wales. In 1825, a new colony, Tasmania, was separated from its composition. In 1829, the Swan River Colony was founded, which became the core of the future state of Western Australia.

Initially, it was a free colony, but then, due to an acute shortage work force, she also began to accept convicts.

Later there are: South Australia (in 1836), New Zealand (in 1840), Victoria (in 1851), Queensland (in 1859). In 1863, the Northern Territory was founded, formerly part of the province of South Australia.

Sending convicts to Australia was reduced only in 1840.

Sending convicts to Australia was reduced only in 1840, and completely stopped by 1868.

Colonization was accompanied by the founding and expansion of settlements across the continent. The largest of them are Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. During this colonization, large areas were cleared of forests and shrubs and began to be used for agricultural purposes.

The fate of the aboriginal population

The arrival of Europeans in Australia proved detrimental to the Aborigines. Aborigines were driven away from water sources and hunting grounds, especially in the most attractive and favorable areas for life in the south and east of the mainland. Many of the natives died of hunger and thirst or were killed in clashes with white settlers.

Aborigines were pushed back from water sources and hunting grounds

Many died from diseases introduced by the Europeans to which they had no immunity. The aboriginal population was used as cheap labor in the livestock farms (ranches) of white settlers in the interior of the country.

In the middle of the XIX century. the remaining native population was moved, partly voluntarily, partly by force, to missions and reservations. By 1921, the total number of Australian Aborigines had decreased to 60 thousand people.

Self-government of Australian territories

In 1851, Australia began " Golden fever».
This has seriously changed the demographic situation in Australia. An influx of immigrants from Great Britain, Ireland, other European countries, North America and China began. In the 1850s alone, the population of the colonies almost tripled, from 405,000 to 1.2 million people. This created the prerequisites for the development of self-government here.


The first Australian territory to receive self-government within the British Empire was New South Wales in 1855.

This happened after the uprising in the gold fields of Victoria. The rebels demanded the introduction of universal suffrage and the abolition of special permits for the right to mine gold. Somewhat later, in 1856, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia received self-government, in 1859 - Queensland, in 1890 - Western Australia.

In addition, the uprising of 1855 gave impetus to the development of the labor movement.

Trade unions of urban and agricultural workers began to emerge, who fought for higher wages and shorter working hours. It was here in Australia that for the first time in the world, skilled workers achieved the establishment of an eight-hour day.


In 1900, the Australian colonies united to form the Commonwealth of Australia, a dominion of the British Empire.

Melbourne became the capital of the Union. Uniform postal rules were established in the Union, armed forces were created. All this contributed to the acceleration economic development Australia.


In the same year, the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia was presented to the House of Commons and signed by Queen Victoria of England. Construction began in 1911 new capital— Canberra. Between the First and Second World Wars, Australia received from Great Britain some territories previously directly subordinate to London: Norfolk Island (1914), Ashmore and Cartier Islands (1931) and claims to the Australian Antarctic Territory (1933).

Independent Australia within the British Commonwealth

Australia received its independence under the Statute of Westminster in 1931, which was ratified by it only in 1942. The British king remained the head of state.

In World War II, Australia fought as a member of the British Commonwealth on two fronts: in Europe against Germany and Italy, and in pacific ocean— against Japan.

Australia fought in World War II as a member of the British Commonwealth.

Although Japan was unable to conduct a ground operation in Australian territory, it constantly threatened to invade, and Japanese aircraft bombed cities in northern Australia.
After the Second World War, the Australian government began a massive program to receive immigrants from Europe.

Between 1948 and 1975 two million immigrants arrived in Australia. Since 1973, the flow of Asian migrants began, which significantly changed the demographic and cultural life of the country. After the Second World War, in connection with this, the Australian economy began to develop dynamically.

Since 1986, Australia has finally ceased constitutional ties with Great Britain, but the British Queen is still considered the formal head of state. The de facto head of state is the Prime Minister of Australia.

The main direction of Australia's modern foreign policy is interaction with the countries of the Asia-Pacific region.

Secrets of the origin of mankind Popov Alexander

Settlement of Australia

Settlement of Australia

Having penetrated through the island chains of the Malay and Sunda archipelagos into Australia, the first people saw here nature more primitive and virgin than in Northern and South America. Due to the isolation of the Australians, and especially the Tasmanians (who were completely exterminated European colonizers already by the middle of the 19th century), are distinguished by their originality physical type. Also, a special place among other peoples of the world (together with the American Indians) is occupied by Australians both in terms of blood groups and language. This indicates not only the exceptional antiquity of human settlement in Australia, but also the fact that the most ancient Australians lost their ties with other peoples early.

Excavations at the Devon Downs cave site, on the Lower Murray, have shown that there are 12 cultural layers containing ancient fauna. The finds testify to a gradual change in the methods of stone processing and the appearance of tools of new forms.

Large settlements of prehistoric times have been discovered in the southeast of South Australia, where the Buandik tribe subsequently lived, which became extinct by the end of the 19th century. Ancient hearths were excavated there, and next to them are many samples of processed stone. Excavations make it clear that at first people from Southeast Asia penetrated into Australia, using coarse pebble tools similar to the Paleolithic and Mesolithic tools of China, Indochina, Burma, and Indonesia. These were, most likely, the ancestors of the Tasmanians and related tribes, assimilated and partially pushed back to Tasmania by newcomers. The newcomers brought with them, along with pebble and double-sided axes, a new, microlithic technique developed on the mainland, mainly in India. But they did not know the bow and arrows, using only throwing spears in hunting the beast, and therefore remained at the level of the Upper Paleolithic. Anthropologically, they were related to the Veddas and the Veddoid tribes of Southeast Asia. Mixing with the natives of Australia and assimilating them, these tribes were partly influenced by the more culturally developed Papuan-Melanesian tribes of the southern seas, who already stood at the level of a mature Neolithic culture. They gave the Australians bow and arrows, polished axes, boats with a balance beam. However, their influence was not deep and was limited only to the northern regions of Australia. Otherwise, the further development of the Australians went their own way.

Due to the isolation of Australia from direct influence advanced countries Asia, the local culture continued to exist for about 6–8 millennia, before the advent of Europeans. By the time they appeared, extremely archaic features of the way of life and culture of the indigenous population of Australia were still preserved, the study of which helps to better understand the material culture, social system and beliefs of the Paleolithic and Mesolithic inhabitants of Europe, Asia and Africa.

This amazing continent is the smallest of all, its area is almost equal to the area of ​​the United States of America (excluding Alaska). European navigators discovered it much later than other lands, since the mysterious " South Land was too far removed from the civilized world. The existence of a large land in these waters was known even to ancient cartographers, but there is no reliable information that someone got here from the Old World before the 17th century.

Antiquity and the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the Reformation - all this passed by Australia.

Indigenous people

Apparently, the first Australian inhabitants migrated to the mainland from Southeast Asia. This happened approximately 40-60 thousand years ago. The path of the first settlers ran along a natural land bridge, connecting Southeast Asia and the shores of the new mainland after the glaciation. At that time, the level of the oceans dropped seriously, which gave primitive people the opportunity to penetrate into Australia and get to the island of Tasmania.

Aboriginal people - as the first inhabitants it is quite possible to call them that - settled the most convenient areas of Australia, hunting and fishing, as well as gathering edible plants. The population of the mainland grew, and by the 17th century reached at least 300 thousand people.

And by this time, the Spaniards who settled in America had been looking for a new land for a hundred years. After all, the legends of the Incas claimed that the richest land is located in the southern part of the Great Ocean. Impressed by the stories of the elders, the Spaniards began to equip the ships. In the XVI-XVII centuries, expeditions managed to discover new lands in that area, but it was not Australia, but small archipelagos - the New Hebrides, the Marquesas and the Solomon Islands.

Who discovered Australia

The Spaniards were late - the Dutch from the legendary East India Trading Company were the first to discover the southern mainland. In 1606, Captain Janszoon brought his ship to the peninsula, which he gave the name of New Zealand, which later became attached to completely different islands. The team tried to find water and food on the shore, but the natives met the newcomers with hostility. After several sailors were killed in a skirmish, Janszon hurried to take the ship away from the inhospitable shores, making a famous entry in the ship's log: "Nothing good can be done there."

This observation was also confirmed by the next Dutchman, Captain Karstenz, who called these shores unsuitable for life, and the local inhabitants - poor and miserable creatures.

The expansion of the Dutch gradually faded away. The last notable navigator from the country of tulips in this part of the world was Captain Tasman, who landed on the northern coast. unknown land, which, he believed, was part of the southern mainland. However, later it turned out that it was an island, which was named Tasmania.

And in 1770, the Englishman James Cook reached Australia, who had a clear order from the Admiralty: to find a huge land lying in the south, explore it and declare it the property of the British crown.

The first meeting with the natives was unfriendly - it went down in history as an exchange of spears and stones from the locals and rifle shots from an English ship. But Cook, unlike the Dutch, showed perseverance: he moved along the coast and continued to study them. Convinced that the land he found was separated by a strait from New Guinea and, therefore, was a separate mainland, the captain hastened to consolidate British sovereignty over it.

Europeans in Australia

So the Europeans learned that in the south there really is an unexplored mainland. And soon, hard trials, comparable to a natural disaster, fell upon the indigenous Australians.

In 1788, the first colonists in history landed on the Australian coast - dangerous criminals, whom the British government exiled away from Britain. The colony was named New South Wales. Also among the arrivals were guards who followed the exiles, and a number of artisans. For five decades, the population of Australia has replenished with tens of thousands of dangerous convicts sent here for serious crimes.

The aliens were engaged in mining in mines and grazing. The natives resisted the new inhabitants little. Until now, according to Cook's observations, they lived almost happily: they were content with what the land and the ocean gave them, they had excellent health, they did not know any inequality. With the advent of whites, everything changed. From favorable areas, the Aborigines were gradually driven deep into Australia, into the desert, where they were overtaken by disease and hunger. Many were simply destroyed, clearing the land; others were infected with diseases brought by whites ...

The 19th century came, and the mainland began to settle even faster - immigrants from different countries came here in the hope of getting rich. Most of all, the English arrived in Australia: the government of this country encouraged those who decided to move in every possible way, providing them with huge tracts of land for pastures and fields. In the east and southeast of the mainland, cities began to grow rapidly. Since England was rapidly developing industry, a lot of gold was needed, and there was also a need for food supplies, minerals and other things. All this was actively mined in Australia. In this case, the interests of the natives were not taken into account: for two hundred years of contacts with Europeans, the number of indigenous people was reduced by at least half.

Wool plus gold

Sheep breeding has long been a symbol of Australia. This industry remained the backbone of the country's economy until the end of World War II. But when gold deposits were discovered in the state of Victoria in the middle of the 19th century, a gold rush began on the mainland. In search of untold riches, immigrants came here not only from Great Britain and all of Europe, but also from North America and China. Easily accessible deposits were quickly depleted, and by the 1870s the economy was back to normal.

An important step was the development in 1879 of the technology of freezing meat: now not only wool, but also meat was exported. Australia became an economically independent country, which in half the globe was practically impossible.

As early as 1855, the Australian colony of New South Wales was granted the right to self-government. Following Wales, other colonies became independent, although the British government still controlled foreign policy, foreign trade and defense.

History of the 20th century

On the first day of the new century, the Commonwealth of Australia was created, bringing together all the colonies of the mainland - the participation of the New Zealand Islands was also supposed, but this colony chose to fight for independence on its own. Soon the Commonwealth of Australia became a dominion of Britain, that is, in fact, an independent country.

To emphasize their new status, the Australians decided to repeat the experience of the United States, which had built a separate city, Washington, for its authorities a little over a hundred years earlier. The first phase of the construction of the city of Canberra lasted from 1911 to 1927, and at the end of this period the Union government entered there with solemnity.

A powerful stimulus for the development of the country was the Second World War. Thanks to close ties with the United States, the Australians were able to obtain guarantees of protection in the event of a Japanese attack, which allowed Australian troops to take part in hostilities without the risk of retaliation. But the main thing is that immediately after the war, thousands of people, including highly qualified specialists, flocked to Australia from dilapidated Europe.

At the same time, the government severely limited immigration from Southeast Asia: the concept of "white Australia" was part of national policy. This norm was canceled only in the 1970s, when the level of education in Asia noticeably increased and this region also became interesting for Australia with its personnel reserve.

Last on this moment iconic historical event are the Labor reforms of the 1970s: the introduction of a system of free higher education for Australian citizens (analogous to Russian " budget places”), the abolition of compulsory military service, the recognition of the right of aborigines to land.

A notable, although purely symbolic, event was the adoption of the Australian Act of 1986, according to which the country-continent finally got out of the influence of Great Britain. And what's going on these days new story Australia - a recent colony for especially dangerous criminals has become a highly developed, superbly governed country, an example for everyone to follow intelligent world. And as a result, more and more people in many countries are thinking about immigrating to Australia.