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Exiles 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 a 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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