the colonies and their motherlands

Initially, the colonists attempted to transplant the culture of their motherlands to the new world colonies, but different conditions ultimately gave way to new lifestyles.

One of the major differences in the colonies was related to racial issues that the motherlands never had to contend with at home.

Initially, the colonists had to deal with problems related to indigenous populations - in which brutality was the norm; but later, when gold and other precious minerals were found in the new word, the colonists had to deal with invasions of prospectors from foreign nations, particularly the Chinese - in which toleration was the norm.

During the early colonization period, the so-called inferior indigenous populations were either killed, enslaved or subjugated; and later on, when moral indignation took place in the motherlands, a system of indentured servitude replaced slavery.

All of the early American colonies were founded upon slavery - most of the slaves being shipped from Africa for this purpose; but the later Australian colonies were remarkable in that they were founded as penal settlements. England transported its felons - its poverty stricken bread stealers as well as its brutal murderers - to Australia as punishment. Providing that the convicts survived the horrendous and long voyage south, the punishment of transportation from dirty, gloomy London to clean, sunny Botany Bay was actually a reward!