Colonialism

Ivory A. Toldson

Colonialism refers to a nation extending its sovereignty over territory beyond its homeland by establishing colonial settlements, dependencies, trading posts, or plantation colonies, in which native inhabitants are ruled, displaced, or extirpated. The goal of colonialism is to strengthen the homeland by controlling the natural resources, labor, and market of the colonial territory. Usually, colonizers will impose their sociocultural mores, religion, and language on the indigenous population. The term colonialism also refers to a set of values, including racism, ethnocentrism, and imperialism, which aim to justify the means by which colonial settlements are established on foreign land. Settlements, dependencies, trading posts, and plantation colonies are distinct ways in which colonialism has been achieved. Settlements involved people emigrating from a mother country, such as England, Spain, or France, and permanently displacing or killing indigenous populations. Dependencies occurred when colonizers did not arrive as a mass settlement but as rulers over existing ...

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