Colonization

+**Colonization** ([British English](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_English): **colonisation**) is a process of establishing control over areas or [peoples](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People) for foreign people to advance their trade, cultivation, exploitation and possibly [settlement](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Settler). Colonization functions through establishing a differentiation between the area and people of the colonized and colonizers, establishing [metropoles](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropole), [coloniality](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coloniality) and possibly outright [colonies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony). Colonization is commonly pursued and maintained by, but distinct from, [imperialism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperialism), [mercantilism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercantilism), or [colonialism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonialism).[\[1\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonization#cite_note-UnLeading_2022_k996-1)[\[2\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonization#cite_note-2)[\[3\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonization#cite_note-Oxford_Advanced_Learners_Dictionary_at_OxfordLearnersDictionaries.com-3)[\[4\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonization#cite_note-u508-4) [Conquest](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conquest) can take place without colonization,[\[a\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonization#cite_note-5) but a conquering process may often result in or from migration and colonizing.[\[5\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonization#cite_note-6)[\[b\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonization#cite_note-7) The term "colonization" is sometimes used synonymously with the word "settling", as with [colonization in biology](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonisation_\(biology\)).

+[Settler colonialism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Settler_colonialism) 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 activities. In settler colonization, a minority group rules either through the [assimilation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_assimilation) or oppression of the existing inhabitants,[\[6\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonization#cite_note-8)[\[7\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonization#cite_note-EI-9)\[[*need quotation to verify*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability)\] or by establishing itself as the demographic majority through [driving away](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exile), displacing or [outright killing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocide) the existing people, as well as through [immigration](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration) and births of metropolitan as well as other settlers.

+The [European colonization of Australia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Australia_\(1788%E2%80%931850\)), [New Zealand](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_New_Zealand), and other places in [Oceania](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oceania) was fueled by explorers, and colonists often regarding the encountered landmasses as [*terra nullius*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_nullius) ("empty land", or literally "nobody's land" in Latin).[\[8\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonization#cite_note-PG-10) This resulted in laws and ideas such as [Mexico](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexico)'s 1824 [<u>General Colonization Law</u>](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Colonization_Law) and the [United States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States)' [manifest destiny](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manifest_destiny) doctrine which furthered colonization

+## See also

+- [Imperialism](/wiki/imperialism)

+Colonization is the act of a state extending its control over a dependent territory, often through settlement and [Occupation](/wiki/occupation). This process frequently involves the exploitation of resources and the imposition of a dominant [Culture](/wiki/culture) upon indigenous peoples.

+## See also

+- [Imperialism](/wiki/imperialism)

+- [Decolonization](/wiki/decolonization)

+- [Settlement](/wiki/settlement)