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Ustica is among one of the many minor islands of Italy and in the mid 1700's there was a push to populate these islands so that they could be used as internment camps to house political dissidents. People have lived there on and off since the Bronze Age but it wasn't until 1760 that a permanent lasting community was established. The population grew quickly. In 1763 there were less than 400 people living on the island. By 1800 that number was up over a thousand and by the middle of that century the population had soared to nearly 5000. And this is what would be the driving force to push residents to emigrate from the island. There simply were not enough resources to maintain that many people. So it's at this time period in the 1840's that we see Usticans leaving the island. They didn't just come to the US, in fact, a large majority of them initially immigrated to French North Africa in the towns and villages of Algeria and Tunisia. Others resettled on other under-populated islands in Italy like Lampedusa, Linsoa and Sardegna and some made their way to Australia.