Editing Colonization (section)

{{short description|Establishment and development of settlements by people or animals}}
{{Distinguish|text=[[Colonisation (biology)]], the process by which species spread to new areas}}
{{Other uses}}

[[file:Descolonización - Decolonization.png|thumb|right|475px|Map of the year each country achieved [[List of sovereign states by date of formation|independence]].]]
{{politics}}
'''Colonization''' ([[British English]]: '''colonisation''') is a process of establishing occupation of or control over foreign [[territory|territories]] or [[people]]s for the purpose of  cultivation, exploitation, trade and possibly [[settler|settlement]], setting up [[coloniality]] and often [[Colony|colonies]]. Colonization is commonly pursued and maintained by, but distinct from, [[imperialism]], [[mercantilism]], or [[colonialism]].<ref name="UnLeading 2022 k996">{{cite web | title =Colonialism, Coloniality and Settler Colonialism | website =UnLeading | date =August 11, 2022 | url =https://www.yorku.ca/edu/unleading/systems-of-oppression/coloniality-and-settler-colonialism/#:~:text=Colonization%20did%20not%20only%20occur,(Mignolo%20%26Walsh%2C%202018). | access-date =December 27, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |doi=10.4324/9780203992586 |date=1997 |author=[[Marc Ferro]] |title=Colonization |page=1 |publisher=Routledge |isbn= 9781134826537
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=0QOIAgAAQBAJ
 | quote = Colonization is associated with the occupation of a foreign land, with its being brought under cultivation, with the settlement of colonists. If this definition of the term "colony" is used, the phenomenon dates from the [[Greek colonisation|Greek period]]. Likewise we speak of Athenian, then Roman 'imperialism'."
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</ref><ref name="Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary at OxfordLearnersDictionaries.com">
{{cite web | title=colonization noun - Definition, pictures, pronunciation and usage notes | website=Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary at OxfordLearnersDictionaries.com | url=https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/colonization?q=colonization | access-date=2023-03-29}}</ref><ref name="u508">{{cite web | title=Different Paths: Colonization is More than Exploitation | website=LPE Project | date=October 20, 2020 | url=https://lpeproject.org/blog/different-paths-colonization-is-more-than-exploitation/ | access-date=July 15, 2024}}</ref> The term "colonization" is sometimes used synonymously with the word "settling", as with [[Colonisation (biology)|colonisation in biology]].

[[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 [[cultural assimilation|assimilation]] or oppression of the existing inhabitants,<ref>{{cite book |last1= Howe |first1= Stephen |title= Empire: A Very Short Introduction |date= 2002 |publisher= Oxford University Press |location= United States |isbn= 9780191604447 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=04lJ4TshmxcC&q=colonisation%20central%20empire%3A%20A%20Very%20Short%20Introduction&pg=PT52 | quote = When colonization takes place under the protection of clearly colonial political structures, it may most handily be called '''settler colonialism'''. This often involves the settlers entirely dispossessing earlier inhabitants, or instituting legal or other structures which systematically disadvantage them.}}</ref><ref name=EI>{{cite book |last1= Howe |first1= Stephen |title= Empire: A Very Short Introduction |date= 2002 |publisher= Oxford University Press |location= United States|pages= 21–31}}</ref>{{qn|date=May 2025}} or by establishing itself as the demographic majority through [[exile | driving away]], displacing or [[genocide | outright killing]] the existing people, as well as through [[immigration]] and births of metropolitan as well as other settlers.

The [[History of Australia (1788–1850)|European colonization of Australia]], [[History of New Zealand|New Zealand]], and other places in [[Oceania]] was fueled by explorers, and colonists often regarding the encountered landmasses as {{lang | la | [[terra nullius]]}} ("empty land", or literally "nobody's land" in Latin).<ref name=PG>{{cite book |last1= Painter |first1= Joe |last2= Jeffrey |first2= Alex |title= Political Geography |date= 2009 |publisher= SAGE Publications Ltd. |location= London, GBR |page= 169}}</ref> This resulted in laws and ideas such as [[Mexico]]'s 1824 [[General Colonization Law]] and the [[United States]]' [[manifest destiny]] doctrine which furthered colonization.