Colonization
Colonization (British English: colonisation) is a process of establishing control over targeted territories or peoples for the purpose of taxation, control, cultivation, often by establishing colonies and possibly by settling them.Colonization is sometimes used synonymously with settling, as with colonisation in biology, but while colonization historically involved settling, this particular form is called settler colonialism. In this case, colonization is structured and enforced by the settlers directly, while their or their ancestors' metropolitan country maintains a connection or control through the settler's colonialism. In settler colonialization, a minority group rules either through the oppression and assimilation of the indigenous peoples, or by establishing itself as the demographic majority through driving away, disadvantaging, or outright killing the indigenous people, as well as through immigration and births of metropolitan as well as other settlers.
The European colonization of Australia, New Zealand, and other places in Oceania was fueled by explorers, and colonists often regarding the encountered landmasses as terra nullius ("empty land" in Latin). This resulted in laws and ideas such as Mexico's General Colonization Law and the United States' manifest destiny doctrine which furthered colonization.
Despite countless declarations and referendums from the United Nations on the independence of colonial countries and peoples, implemented since 1946, there are still over 60 colonies – sometimes designated territories – in the world, including Puerto Rico, Guam, and Bermuda.
