Transportation, in the context of GCSE History, refers to a form of punishment used from the 17th to the 19th century, where convicted criminals were sent to a distant place, often a colony, to serve their sentences. Instead of being held in prisons, these individuals were shipped to places like Australia or America, where they worked for several years under strict conditions. This punishment was meant to both remove offenders from society and help settle and develop overseas territories. It was a significant part of Britain's penal system before prisons were more widely established and was eventually abolished in the mid-19th century.
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