Page 80 - A History of the World in 25 Cities

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Life in
The first peoples of the Sydney area lived in small groups, and ate food they caught in the sea, or hunted or gathered on land. In the late 1700s, their way of life began to change dramatically, and by the 1830s, Sydney had become a city. But the Eora people survived, and are still there today.
In 1770, Captain James Cook became the first European to set foot on the east coast of Australia at Botany Bay, near Sydney. He planted a flag at Possession Island in the north and claimed eastern Australia for Britain, despite the fact there were people who already lived there, then sailed off to explore other parts of the world.
The city of Sydney started as a colony for prisoners. In Britain at the time, people could be hanged just for stealing a loaf of bread, as well as for terrible crimes like murder. But some criminals were shipped to a far-off colony instead of being put to death.
In 1787, 11 ships set sail from England to Australia carrying 775 prisoners: men, women and children as young as nine
years old. Most of them had been convicted of theft, and many had stolen food because they were hungry. At first, conditions for prisoners in the colony were terrible – there wasn’t enough food,
there were outbreaks of disease and punishments were brutal.
In 5
Number of prisoners transported from England to Australia:
NuMbers
Population of Sydney today:
16O OOO