Colonial conquests, annexations, treaties, and spoils of war saw the rapid territorial and economic expansion of the British Empire during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. An increase in the circulation of people performing both forced and free labour underpinned and propelled this global imperial expansion and enterprise. Discourses of domination saw an increased emphasis on law and order in many colonial settings. As a result, intra-colonial convict transportation became an essential element in maintaining social order and economic stability within the Empire's many colonies. This form of maritime dislocation became inextricably intertwined with the unique convict experience, with husband separated from wife, wife from husband, parent/s from child or children, child from parents and the loss of extended family and other social networks. This forced movement of people across the British Empire had a devastating effect on the individual convict and their families, disrupting family networks and more often than not permanently severing family ties.

In the Indian Ocean, a decisive British maritime victory over the French resulted in the annexation of the colony of Mauritius in 1810. Within the broader historical context of British colonialism, this conquest virtually ended the struggle between Britain and France for supremacy in the region. Mauritius, a significant waypoint and geo-strategic island in the Indian Ocean, became a key link in the British imperial chain of ports and trade, stretching from the Caribbean to Europe and Africa, and across the Indian Ocean to the Australian penal colonies.