When Europeans came across a large landmass that look easy to conquer, they generally fought amongst themselves for it. Yet unlike the Americas and Africa, there was no attempt at any other European country except for Britain to take the continent-sized Australia. So why not? To find out watch this short and simple animated history documentary.

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Australia is a pretty big place and 1 that was entirely colonised by 1 country, the United Kingdom.

Britain wasn't the first European country to discover Australia, that was the Netherlands.

And in spite of the fact that all of these nations had interests nearby, there was no desperate scramble for this massive land and no other European state ever settled it.

Why wasn't there a scramble for Australia, and why was it just left for Britain?

So, the first Europeans to discover Australia were the Dutch in 1606, who promptly named it New Holland after Holland back home.

Over the following century, Australia was visited by sailors from many countries who mapped most of its coast.

It wasn't long before the Dutch East India Company considered the idea of colonising New Holland, but in the end it decided against the venture.

The reason was that there were no known resources to exploit and there weren't very many indigenous people to do it for them.

Eventually, in the latter half of the 18th century, the British mapped out the eastern coastline of Australia and found several places of interest.

And 2 decades later, the British government agreed to colonise the area of Botany Bay here.

There were 3 reasons that Britain said yes to this.

The first was that the people they were sending were convicts and so it didn't really matter if things didn't work out.

Previously, Britain had sent convicts to North America, but due to an ongoing event of freedom, that was no longer possible.

The second reason was that Britain wasn't looking for resources to sell or people to tax.

Australia sat in a convenient place for raiding French, Spanish, and especially Dutch shipping, which would help Britain in any future wars, and mostly they were just looking to get rid of convicts.

And the third reason was that the British believed that it would be easy, because no other major powers were trying and there were barely any natives there to resist.

The British landed in 1788, founding the settlement of Sydney Town in what's now New South Wales.

So after this, why didn't any other European power try to keep the rest of Australia out of the hands of the British?

Well, to begin, the Dutch were fine with it because the British initially conceded half of Australia to them if they ever wanted it.

Well, It wasn't long in Europe until the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars changed the balance of power on the continent.

The French did send some ships to investigate potential sites for settlement, but the British were quick to build small settlements anywhere a valley that the French had shown interest in.

France's previous aggression meant that Britain wouldn't allow them to colonise Australia without a war.

The Dutch had lost a lot of prestige and some overseas territories to Britain and were just happy to get Indonesia back.

Spain and Portugal were bankrupt and largely on the decline.

Later on, the newly founded Germany would go sniffing around the area.

But the fear of German colonial expansion in the region was 1 of the main drivers of Australian unification.

At which point, no other country would ever get a look in and Australia would be shaped by the British until its independence in the 20th century.

I hope you enjoyed this episode with a special thanks to my Patrons...

Katowice, Aleks Swin, Andy Magehi, Jerry Lambdin, Rod D.

Martin, AF Firefly, Marcus Arsner, Wyan Hockey, Spencer Lightfoot, Marvin Casale, Captain Seidog, Kim Moon-Yoon, Winston K.

Wood, Miss Iset, Boogalewoogalee, Maggie Paskowski, The McWhopper, Gustav Swan, Calling Dr.

Howard, Copper Tone, Shuenin, Spinning 3 Plates, Words About Books Podcast, Jim Strumberg, Words About Books Podcast, and Charles I.


Speaker 0: Australia is a pretty big place and 1 that was entirely colonised by 1 country, the United Kingdom. Britain wasn't the first European country to discover Australia, that was the Netherlands. And in spite of the fact that all of these nations had interests nearby, there was no desperate scramble for this massive land and no other European state ever settled it. Which raises the question, why? Why wasn't there a scramble for Australia, and why was it just left for Britain?

So, the first Europeans to discover Australia were the Dutch in 1606, who promptly named it New Holland after Holland back home. Over the following century, Australia was visited by sailors from many countries who mapped most of its coast. It wasn't long before the Dutch East India Company considered the idea of colonising New Holland, but in the end it decided against the venture. The reason was that there were no known resources to exploit and there weren't very many indigenous people to do it for them. Eventually, in the latter half of the 18th century, the British mapped out the eastern coastline of Australia and found several places of interest.

And 2 decades later, the British government agreed to colonise the area of Botany Bay here. There were 3 reasons that Britain said yes to this. The first was that the people they were sending were convicts and so it didn't really matter if things didn't work out. Previously, Britain had sent convicts to North America, but due to an ongoing event of freedom, that was no longer possible. The second reason was that Britain wasn't looking for resources to sell or people to tax.

Australia sat in a convenient place for raiding French, Spanish, and especially Dutch shipping, which would help Britain in any future wars, and mostly they were just looking to get rid of convicts. And the third reason was that the British believed that it would be easy, because no other major powers were trying and there were barely any natives there to resist. The British landed in 1788, founding the settlement of Sydney Town in what's now New South Wales. So after this, why didn't any other European power try to keep the rest of Australia out of the hands of the British? Well, to begin, the Dutch were fine with it because the British initially conceded half of Australia to them if they ever wanted it.

Well, It wasn't long in Europe until the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars changed the balance of power on the continent. The French did send some ships to investigate potential sites for settlement, but the British were quick to build small settlements anywhere a valley that the French had shown interest in. France's previous aggression meant that Britain wouldn't allow them to colonise Australia without a war. The Dutch had lost a lot of prestige and some overseas territories to Britain and were just happy to get Indonesia back. Spain and Portugal were bankrupt and largely on the decline.

Later on, the newly founded Germany would go sniffing around the area. But the fear of German colonial expansion in the region was 1 of the main drivers of Australian unification. At which point, no other country would ever get a look in and Australia would be shaped by the British until its independence in the 20th century. I hope you enjoyed this episode with a special thanks to my Patrons... Katowice, Aleks Swin, Andy Magehi, Jerry Lambdin, Rod D.

Martin, AF Firefly, Marcus Arsner, Wyan Hockey, Spencer Lightfoot, Marvin Casale, Captain Seidog, Kim Moon-Yoon, Winston K. Wood, Miss Iset, Boogalewoogalee, Maggie Paskowski, The McWhopper, Gustav Swan, Calling Dr. Howard, Dr. Fine, Dr. Howard, Copper Tone, Shuenin, Spinning 3 Plates, Words About Books Podcast, Jim Strumberg, Words About Books Podcast, and Charles I.

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Why wasn't there a Scramble for Australia? (Short Animated Documentary)