<P> Since 1718 , transportation to the American colonies had been a penalty for various offences in Britain , with approximately one thousand convicts transported per year across the Atlantic . Forced to find an alternative location after the loss of the Thirteen Colonies in 1783 , the British government turned to the newly discovered lands of Australia . The western coast of Australia had been discovered for Europeans by the Dutch explorer Willem Janszoon in 1606 and was later named New Holland by the Dutch East India Company , but there was no attempt to colonise it . In 1770 James Cook discovered the eastern coast of Australia while on a scientific voyage to the South Pacific Ocean , claimed the continent for Britain , and named it New South Wales . In 1778 , Joseph Banks , Cook 's botanist on the voyage , presented evidence to the government on the suitability of Botany Bay for the establishment of a penal settlement , and in 1787 the first shipment of convicts set sail , arriving in 1788 . Britain continued to transport convicts to New South Wales until 1840 . The Australian colonies became profitable exporters of wool and gold , mainly because of gold rushes in the colony of Victoria , making its capital Melbourne for a time the richest city in the world and the second largest city ( after London ) in the British Empire . </P>
where did the british empire control an entire continent
Australia