Transportation and Deportation

Exile has been a pan-European answer to the problem of malefactors since Roman times. From the age of Discovery it has also been a useful strategy for states to fulfil the manpower needs of the burgeoning colonies of the New World, Africa and Australia. This book brings together historical accounts of the impact transportation and deportation had on the Gypsy populations of England, Spain and Portugal. In the latter two countries the open rounding-up and explusion of complete communities may be compared with ethnic cleansing. In England, general legislation combined to put Gypsies under greater threat of being transported than non-Gypsies. The text includes: case studies of English Gypsies transported to America and Australia; papers on the deportation of Gypsies from Spain to the Americas from the time of Columbus; and on the banishment of Gypsies from Portugal to its colonies of Angola and Brazil.