On behalf of Great Britain, Captain James Cook claimed the east coast of Australia in the year 1770. He declared Australia to be Terra Nullius, meaning "the land that does not belongs to no one." Under 18th century law, people from another land could legally take land that had no owner. British colonization began with the arrival of the First Fleet to establish a penal colony in what became Sydney in January 1788. However, prior to British colonization, it is estimated that there were at least 300,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia and over 500 different people. groups of clans or "nations" across the continent, many with distinctive cultures and beliefs. Consequently, the event of British colonization is described by many historians as the European invasion of Australia. After the year 1788, the English continued to take over land and did not think much about compensating the indigenous Australians they had displaced. The Aboriginal population lost access to the food and water sources they once could freely use, as well as various sacred sites. The Aboriginal community found itself living in a world governed by inhabitants who believed that people with white skin were superior to those of other races. From the mid-19th century onwards, Australian governments began to implement various 'protection' policies that effectively segregated the Aboriginal people of Australian society, consuming their daily lives. These laws restricted the areas in which Aboriginal people could live and work, limiting their access to wages, prohibiting the practice of Aboriginal traditions, limiting access to education, removing Aboriginal children from their families and denying them. .. paper ......rative | New World Exploration and English Ambition. [online] Available at: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1narr2.html [Accessed 8 June 2014].Robson, P. (2014). 222 years of Aboriginal struggle | Treaty Republic: Indigenous Australian sovereignty, genocide, land rights and rent payment issues. [online] Treatyrepublic.net. Available at: http://treatyrepublic.net/content/222-years-aboriginal-struggle [accessed 9 June 2014].Royal.gov.uk, (2014). [online] Available at: http://www.royal.gov.uk/MonarchAndCommonwealth/Australia/Historyandpresentgovernment.aspx [Accessed 8 June 2014].Scholastic Teachers, (2014). African American History | Scholastic.com. [online] Available at: http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/african-american-history [accessed June 8, 2014].Woods, M. (n.d.). What 21st-century historians have said about the causes of disunity. 1st ed.