Why didn't early Portuguese and Dutch explorers decide to create settlements in Australia? A. It was already claimed by England. B. Local natives successfully defeated Dutch and Portuguese forces. C. The Dutch and Portuguese had a policy of creating no settlements. D. They didn't think the land was suitable for settlement.

They didn't create the settlements because D. They didn't think the land was suitable for settlement.

The land in Australia is not suitable to grow cotton (which is a hot commodity back then) and it also possess a large number of dangerous animals that turned potential settlers away from the region. It also separated from popular trading routes in that period.