The article discusses the dichotomy of the perception of the new territories, representing the two sometimes conflicting cognitive models, defined by the author through the terms of topophilia and topophobia. According to the author, these two models of perceptions of new lands are reflected in two other universal models of society: utopia and dystopia. Colonization of new lands, especially in modern times, very often was expressed through these two models. One model was based on the principles of perception of the new space from the point of view of its symbolic connection with the idea of Paradise, the other - on the contrary, was based on the idea of hostility of an unknown land, their opposition to the civilization, which ultimately led to the desire to populate it with various criminal elements, thereby freeing the metropolis of unwanted and dangerous persons. Frontier territory of being a remote land, was perceived very often from the points of view of these two models. The history of the USA, England, France knows many cases the perception of frontier territories or as a new Paradise, or special prisons for criminals. The colonization of new territories by France sometimes happened due to the desire to find a way to isolate criminal elements from mainstream French society, leaving them to themselves on remote Islands. This was the fate of some territories in Australia, which were settled by criminals deported from the UK.
