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Exile from WikiPedia:

Exile means to be away from one's home (i.e. city, state or country) while either being explicitly refused permission to return and/or being threatened by prison or death upon return. It can be a form of punishment.

It is common to distinguish between internal exile, i.e., forced resettlement within the country of residence, and external exile, deportation outside the country of residence.[citation needed]

Exile can also be a self-imposed departure from one's homeland. Self-exile is often practiced as form of protest, to avoid persecution, or an act of shame or repentance.

Exile was used particularly for political opponents of those in power. Governments sometimes find exile to be a politically useful option for punishments because it prevents the exilee from organizing in their native land or from becoming a martyr. People feared exile and banishment so much because it effectively meant that they were going to die. In European history, at a time prior to Roman invasion, people lived completely co-dependently in farm towns where everyone had a function.

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