Penal transportation
（重定向自Convict system）
![Women in England mourning their lovers who are soon to be transported to Botany Bay, 1792](/Images/godic/202501/06/Black-eyed_Sue_and_Sweet_Poll_of_Plymouth_taking_leave_of_their_lovers_who_are_going_to_Botany_Bay2743.jpeg")
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![This notice on a bridge in Dorset warns that damage to the bridge can be punished by transportation.](/Images/godic/202501/06/Dorset_Sturminster_Newton_Bridge_notice2743.jpg")
Transportation or penal transportation is the sending of convicted criminals or other persons regarded as undesirable to a penal colony. For example, France transported convicts to Devil's Island and New Caledonia and England transported convicts, political prisoners and prisoners of war from Scotland and Ireland to its colonies in the Americas (from the 1610s until the American Revolution in the 1770s) and Australia (1788–1868). The practice became available in Scotland consequent to the Union of 1707, but was used less than in England.