selfdefined/11ty/definitions/colonialism.md

---
title: colonialism
slug: colonialism
speech: noun
excerpt: the act of enforcing one's political and ideological dominance in a country or region that is not of one's origin
sub_terms:
  - text: modern
    full_title: modern colonialism
  - text: settler
    full_title: settler colonialism
  - text: Western
    full_title: Western colonialism
defined: true
reading:
  - text: A brief context of colonialism
    href: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/colonialism/
---

the act of forcing a group of people in a region or country to live under the policies and ideologies of an invading government or group of people for the purposes of asserting geo-political dominance.

### Note

Though [often associated with imperialism](https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/colonialism/), the two words have different Latin etymologies that drive how the connotation of colonialism and the word colony have evolved. The most notable instances of colonialism to the general public are Western colonialism and recently, neo-colonialism.

The practice of colonialism was most prominent with the British, Ottoman, and other European empires upon regions in the Americas, Asia, and Africa where slave trade(s) was(were) implemented as an economic vehicle. Contrary to popular belief, the colonialism also affected people of European descent, most notably, the Irish. Some studies have tried to [clarify the question](https://www.jstor.org/stable/20720270?seq=1) of whether or not this is true, but they tend to be written by non-Native researchers, therefore muting a much needed context. Be mindful when researching this topic to note the origin of the researchers with respect to the colonies and colonisers that they are writing about.

Also see [neo-colonialism](/definitions/neo-colonialism) for an extension on this concept.