Tasmania is an island located about 200 miles off the southeast coast of Australia. Archaeologists estimate that Black indigenous people crossed into the island on an ancient bridge which connected Tasmania to the continent of Australia. The peace and harmony that they enjoyed for years was disrupted in 1642 when the first Europeans arrived on the Island. A Dutch navigator, named Abel Jansen, was the one who led the expedition. In typical white explorer manner, he was quick to name the Island after the governor-general of the Dutch East India Company, Anthony Van Diemen and without the consent of the owners of the land, they continued to call the Island Van Diemen till 1855.
Before 1855, the British, as they scouted the world for lands to conquer & loot, reached the Island in 1777 and invaded the land and turned it into a settlement for their prisoners and convicted criminals. By 1804, the British colonial government & their convicts started to slaughter and murder the Tasmanians in cold blood because they didn’t consider the Aborigines to be full humans. They followed the lies of European scholars who twisted human history, placing Caucasians at the top of the pyramid and placing Black people at the bottom. Their mission was total annihilation of the Black race & they wasted no time in decimating the Tasmania population.
They did not just sit back & watch the invaders destroy them. They put up a strong resistance. The British declared war & named the genocide “The Black War of Van Dieman’s Land”.This war lasted for 27 years, between 1803 and 1830. And in those evil years, the Black population of Tasmania was reduced from over 5,000 to less than 75 people.
