https://www.vocabulary.

com/dictionary/colonization

Colonization is the act of setting up a colony away from one's place of origin. We can remember
when the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock. That was the beginning of a period of colonization.

We may have heard of an ant colony, which is a community of ants that decided to set up shop in
a particular place; this is an example of ant colonization. With humans, colonization is sometimes
seen as a negative act because it tends to involve an invading culture establishing political control
over an indigenous population (the people living there before the arrival of the settlers).

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/colonization

colonization: The action or process of settling among and establishing control over the
indigenous people of an area.

http://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences-and-law/political-science-and-government/political-
science-terms-and-concepts-111

Colonization is the extension of political and economic control over an area by a state whose nationals
have occupied the area and usually possess organizational or technological superiority over the native
population. It may consist simply in a migration of nationals to the territory, or it may be the formal
assumption of control over the territory by military or civil representatives of the dominant power (see
colony).

Overpopulation, economic distress, social unrest, and religious persecution in the home country may be
factors that cause colonization, but imperialism, more or less aggressive humanitarianism, and a desire
for adventure or individual improvement are also causes. Colonization may be state policy, or it may be a
private project sponsored by chartered corporations or by associations and individuals. Before
colonization can be effected, the indigenous population must be subdued and assimilated or converted
to the culture of the colonists; otherwise, a modus vivendi must be established by the imposition of a
treaty or an alliance.

Early Colonization

As early as the 10th cent. BC, the Phoenicians founded trading posts throughout the Mediterranean area
and later exercised political dominion over these commercial colonies. The Greeks, from a desire for
wealth or as a result of the expulsion of a political faction or the defeated inhabitants of a city, established
colonies in Asia Minor and Italy, spreading Hellenic culture and stimulating trade. Greek colonies were
patterned after the parent state and were at first subject to its jurisdiction. Colonization was an integral
part of Roman policy, providing land for the poor, supporting Roman garrisons, and again spreading
Roman culture. In their colonization the Romans sought to assimilate the native culture into their own,
and in some cases they bestowed Roman citizenship upon natives of the colony. Medieval colonization
began with the Crusades and was mainly Italian. The Venetians and Genoese established commercial
colonies along trade routes and exercised strict supervision over them.
The Portuguese and Spanish

The Portuguese and Spanish became great colonizing nations at the end of the Middle Ages. Portuguese
colonization, which received impetus from the development of greatly improved methods of navigation,
began with the establishment of trading ports in Africa and the East, while the Spanish concentrated most
of their efforts in the Americas. Both the Spanish and the Portuguese exercised strict governmental
control over their colonies and used them primarily as a basis for rich commerce with the parent
government. They discouraged them from becoming economically self-sufficient.

The English, Dutch, and French

In the late 16th and early 17th cent., the English, Dutch, and French began to undertake colonization
through the agency of chartered companies. The greatest of these private trading companies was the
British East India Company, which played a vital role in the history of the British Empire.

The French generally adhered to mercantilist theory in establishing their colonies, using them mainly for
the economic advantage of France. The English colonists in North America, however, were, in many
respects, virtually independent of the parent country, the most serious restriction being the establishment
of a trade monopoly by the home government through the Navigation Acts. Because their territory was
suitable for settlement, rather than exploitation, the residence of the British colonists in America tended
to be permanent. The increase in overseas trade and colonial consumption helped to stimulate the
Industrial Revolution, which in turn, because of the increased technological superiority afforded Europe,
especially Great Britain, and because of the greater desire for markets and raw materials, gave added
impetus to colonization and made it easier to accomplish.

Although Great Britain lost most of its North American colonies as a result of the American Revolution,
other acquisitions (most notably in India) soon made it the greatest colonial power in the world. The
French, stripped of one colonial empire in the colonial wars of the 18th cent., established another in the
19th century.

Decline of Colonization

Modern colonization, frequently preceded by an era in which missionaries and traders were active, was
largely exploitative, but it did not in the long run prove directly lucrative to the colonial power, because it
involved a heavy drain on the treasury of the home government. After World War II, there was increasing
agitation and violence in the European colonial empires as subject peoples demanded their
independence. Most colonies were granted or won independence from the imperial powers; those
belonging to Portugal were among the last major colonies to become independent. Today, only a few
remnants of the great colonial empires survive, mainly as self-governing dependencies (e.g., Aruba,
Bermuda, and French Guiana). Colonization in its classical form is rarely practiced today and is widely
considered to be immoral.