Colonization

Colonization is a process of establishing occupation of or control over foreign <a href="/facts/Territory/j6KoWv1C">territories</a> or <a href="/facts/People/AsSDLHfU">peoples</a> for the purpose of cultivation, exploitation, trade and possibly <a href="/facts/Settler/SjBCIznY">settlement</a>, setting up <a href="/facts/Coloniality/SPvya3uh">coloniality</a> and often <a href="/facts/Colony/6ku13Po7">colonies</a>, commonly pursued and maintained by, but distinct from, <a href="/facts/Imperialism/JvofndS2">imperialism</a>, <a href="/facts/Mercantilism/96U7yI74">mercantilism</a>, or <a href="/facts/Colonialism/kvqx2DaV">colonialism</a>. Colonization is sometimes used synonymously with settling, as with <a href="/facts/Colonisation_(biology)/ySl8Qvan">colonisation in biology</a>.
<a href="/facts/Settler_colonialism/9rEpsQuL">Settler colonialism</a> is a type of colonization structured and enforced by the settlers directly, while their or their ancestors' metropolitan country (metropole) maintains a connection or control through the settler's colonialism. In settler colonization, a minority group rules either through the <a href="/facts/Cultural_assimilation/hwrCtR9q">assimilation</a> or oppression of the <a href="/facts/Indigenous_peoples/zyzBMXBS">indigenous peoples</a>, or by establishing itself as the demographic majority through driving away, displacing or outright killing the indigenous people, as well as through immigration and births of metropolitan as well as other settlers.
The <a href="/facts/History_of_Australia_(1788%25E2%2580%25931850)/kJXjUFXj">European colonization of Australia</a>, <a href="/facts/History_of_New_Zealand/Y3k3at3t">New Zealand</a>, and other places in <a href="/facts/Oceania/vzTEvsfV">Oceania</a> was fueled by explorers, and colonists often regarding the encountered landmasses as <a href="/facts/Terra_nullius/bgHpP6Lf">terra nullius</a> ("empty land" in Latin). This resulted in laws and ideas such as <a href="/facts/Mexico/IT5bwhdh">Mexico</a>'s <a href="/facts/General_Colonization_Law/D1Tt88pf">General Colonization Law</a> and the <a href="/facts/United_States/P0sCdLe5">United States</a>' <a href="/facts/Manifest_destiny/R02Youdx">manifest destiny</a> doctrine which furthered colonization.

Colonization open-in-new

Colonization