Australia was colonized by the British in 1788, when Captain Arthur Phillip led the First Fleet of British ships to establish a penal colony in what is now Sydney. The purpose of the colony was to provide a place to send convicts from Britain, as overcrowded prisons in England had become a major problem. Over time, free settlers also began to migrate to Australia, and the British established other colonies throughout the continent. However, the impact of British colonization on Australia's Indigenous population has been devastating, with the dispossession of land, violence, and forced assimilation policies causing significant harm to Indigenous communities.