I.

Introduction

Colonies and Colonialism, territories, inhabited or not, acquired by conquest or settlement by a people or government previously alien to that territory; and, imposed foreign rule upon such territory. A colonial relationship is created when one people or government extends its sovereignty and imposes political control over an alien people or territory. The relationship is terminated when the subject people either become fully self-governing or become assimilated into the political structure of the colonial power on equal terms.

In modern times, and especially since World War II, colonialism has become the subject of intense moral and political controversy. Although some governments have attempted to justify the colonial systems they created in the past, many former colonies have depicted colonialism as a system of exploitation, imposed on them by stronger powers and responsible for economic backwardness, racial conflict, and social and cultural disorder.

Historically, colonial relationships have varied considerably. Some colonies have been heavily settled by nationals of the colonizing country; others have hardly been settled at all. Some colonies have been strictly supervised by their colonizers; others have been subject to loose and informal control. Some colonies have been founded overseas; others have been established on territory adjacent to that of the colonizing nation.