The term colony originates from the ancient Romancolonia, a type of Roman settlement. Derived from colonus (farmer, cultivator, planter, or settler), it carries with it the sense of 'farm' and 'landed estate'.[4]
Furthermore, the term was used to refer to the older Greek apoikia (Ancient Greek: ἀποικία, lit. 'home away from home'), which were overseas settlements by ancient Greek city-states. The city that founded such a settlement became known as its metropolis ("mother-city"). Since early-modern times, historians, administrators, and political scientists have generally used the term "colony" to refer mainly to the many different overseas territories of particularly European states between the 15th and 20th centuries CE, with colonialism and decolonization as corresponding phenomena.
While colonies often developed from trading outposts or territorial claims, such areas do not need to be a product of colonization, nor become colonially organized territories. Territories furthermore do not need to have been militarily conquered and occupied to come under colonial rule and to be considered de facto colonies, instead neocolonial exploitation of dependency or imperialist use of power to intervene to force policy, might make a territory be considered a colony, which broadens the concept, including indirect rule or puppet states (contrasted by more independent types of client states such as vassal states). Subsequently, some historians have used the term informal colony to refer to a country under a de facto control of another state. Though the broadening of the concept is often contentious.
The word "colony" comes from the Latin word colōnia, used for ancient Romanoutposts and eventually for cities. This in turn derives from the word colōnus, which referred to a Roman tenant farmer.
Settlements that began as Roman coloniae include cities from Cologne (which retains this history in its name) to Belgrade to York. A telltale sign of a settlement within the Roman sphere of influence once being a Roman colony is a city centre with a grid pattern.[5]
With a long and changing history of use colonies have been distinguished from "settler colonies", which are the more particular type of a settlement or community and not so much territorial.[3]
French Indochina was formed in October 1887 from Annam, Tonkin, Cochinchina (which together form modern Vietnam) and the Kingdom of Cambodia; Laos was added after the Franco-Siamese conflict of 1893. The federation lasted until 1954. In the four protectorates, the French formally left the local rulers in power, who were the Emperors of Vietnam, Kings of Cambodia, and Kings of Luang Prabang, but gathered all powers in their hands, the local rulers acting only as figureheads.
Greenland was a colony of Denmark-Norway from 1721 and was a colony of Denmark from 1814 to 1953. In 1953 Greenland was made an equal part of the Danish Kingdom. Home rule was granted in 1979 and extended to self-rule in 2009. See also Danish colonization of the Americas.
Liberia a colony set up in 1821 by American private citizens for the migration of African American freedmen. Liberian Declaration of Independence from the American Colonization Society on 26 July 1847. It is the second oldest black republic in the world after Haiti.
Macau was a Portuguesecolony (from 1976 a "Chinese territory under Portuguese administration") from 1557 to 1999. In 1999, two years after Hong Kong, it became a Special Administrative Region of China.
Puerto Rico was a colony of Spain from 1493 to 1898, when it passed to be a colonial possession of the United States,[11][12][13] classified by the United States as "an unincorporated territory".[14] In 1914, the Puerto Rican House of Delegates voted unanimously in favor of independence from the United States, but this was rejected by the U.S. Congress as "unconstitutional" and in violation of the U.S. 1900 Foraker Act.[15] In 1952, after the US Congress approved Puerto Rico's constitution, its formal name became "Commonwealth of Puerto Rico", but its new name "did not change Puerto Rico's political, social, and economic relationship to the United States."[16][17] That year, the United States advised the United Nations (UN) that the island was a self-governing territory.[18][a] The United States has been "unwilling to play in public the imperial role... it has no appetite for acknowledging in a public way the contradictions implicit in frankly colonial rule."[21][b] The island has been called a colony by many,[22] including US Federal judges,[23] US Congresspeople,[24][25] the Chief Justice of the Puerto Rico Supreme Court,[26] and numerous scholars.[27][c]
South Africa consisted of territories and colonies by various African and European powers, including the Dutch and the British, and the Nguni. The territory consisting of the modern nation was ruled directly by the British from 1806 to 1910; became a self-governing dominion of Union of South Africa in 1910.
The United States was formed from a union of thirteen British colonies. The Colony of Virginia was the first of the thirteen colonies. All thirteen declared independence in July 1776 and expelled the British governors.
Current colonies
edit
The Special Committee on Decolonization maintains the United Nations list of non-self-governing territories, which identifies areas the United Nations (though not without controversy) believes are colonies. Given that dependent territories have varying degrees of autonomy and political power in the affairs of the controlling state, there is disagreement over the classification of "colony".
Border outpost – outpost maintained by a sovereign state on its border, usually one of a series placed at regular intervals, to watch over and safeguard its border with a neighboring statePages displaying wikidata descriptions as a fallback
Frontier thesis – Argument by historian Frederick Jackson TurnerPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
Border – Geographic boundaries of political entity
No-go area – Area where authorities are unable to enforce law or sovereignty
Terra nullius – International law term for unclaimed land
No-mans land – Strip of land between wartime trenchesPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
Human outpost – Human habitats located in environments inhospitable for humans
Notes
edit
^During its 8th session, the United Nations General Assembly recognized Puerto Rico's self-government on November 27, 1953, with Resolution 748 (VIII).[19] (UN Resolution "748 (VIII)", adopted on November 27, 1953, during its 459th Plenary Meeting.) This removed Puerto Rico's classification as a non-self-governing territory (under article 73(e) of the Charter of the United Nations). The resolution passed, garnering a favorable vote from some 40% of the General Assembly, with over 60% abstaining or voting against it (20 to 16, plus 18 abstentions). Today, however, the UN "still debates whether Puerto Rico is a colony" or not.[20]
^Sidney Mintz's quote goes on to state, "Something in our history makes the idea of our ruling other people very difficult to deal with. Puerto Rico's political status certainly has evolved in its century inside the North American 'family.' But the permanent interim political status of which Tomas Blanco wrote still has not ended."
^For additional references to Puerto Rico's current (2021) colonial status under U.S. rule, see Nicole Narea,[28] Amy Goodman and Ana Irma Rivera Lassén,[29] David S. Cohen[30] and Sidney W. Mintz.[31]
^Each territory in the United States Minor Outlying Islands is labeled UM- followed by the first letter of its name and another unique letter if needed.
^"colony". Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Oxford University Press. 2021. Retrieved 8 January 2021. 1. [...] a country or an area that is governed by people from another, more powerful, country
^"Collins Englisch Wörterbuch". COLONY Definition und Bedeutung (in German). 20 December 2017. Retrieved 10 January 2025. any people or territory separated from but subject to a ruling power
^ abStanard, Matthew G. (2018). European Overseas Empire, 1879 - 1999: A Short History. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 4–5. doi:10.1002/9781119367376. ISBN 978-1-119-13013-0. One kind of colony comprises a group of people that leaves one place to settle in a distant land, and who then remain free of formal control of their country of origin. Ancient Greeks who departed the area around the Aegean Sea to establish settlements around the Mediterranean are an example of this, as is, more recently, the "colony" of Italians who settled in New York City from the late 1800s. A colony can also be such a settlement that remains controlled by the land from which the colonists originated. By 241 bce, the Roman Republic had established its first province in Sicily, for instance. More recent examples are Virginia and Australia, founded as British colonies in 1607 and 1788, respec-tively. A third type of colony is a territory conquered by a foreign power and placed in a subservient relationship within that power's empire, but that, for whatever reason, is not settled by large numbers of people from the metropole. [...] A "colonist" is someone from a colonizing power who settles in a foreign or colonized land, a "colonizer" someone who engages in conquest and foreign rule, and the "colonized" those people subject to colonization, that is, indigenous people (natives) ruled over by foreigners and oftentimes dispossessed of their lands. To "colonize" (noun: "colonization") usually refers to setting up a colony, that is, taking and populating lands. "Colonialism," by contrast, often refers either to colonization or more generally to engaging in the practice of empire. This book emphasizes a major distinction, namely between "colonies" controlled by a metropole yet overwhelmingly populated by indigenous peoples, and "settler colonies," lands where colonists took land for settlement.
^Nayar, Pramod (2008). Postcolonial Literature – An Introduction. India: Pearson India. pp. 1–2. ISBN 9788131713730.
^James S. Jeffers (1999). The Greco-Roman world of the New Testament era: exploring the background of early Christianity. InterVarsity Press. pp. 52–53. ISBN 978-0-8308-1589-0.
^"Non-Self-Governing Territories | the United Nations and Decolonization".
^De Lario, Damaso; de Lario Ramírez, Dámaso (2008). "Philip II and the "Philippine Referendum" of 1599". Re-shaping the world: Philip II of Spain and his time. Ateneo de Manila University Press. ISBN 978-971-550-556-7.
^In 1521, an expedition led by Ferdinand Magellan landed in the islands, and Ruy López de Villalobos named the islands Las Islas Filipinas in honor of Spain's Prince Philip (later to become Philip I of Castile). During a later expedition in 1564, Miguel López de Legazpi conquered the Philippines for Spain. However, it can be argued that Spain's legitimate sovereignty over the islands commenced following a popular referendum in 1599.[9]
^The Recolonization of Puerto Rico, Part 1. Archived 14 September 2021 at the Wayback Machine The Voluntown Peace Trust. 22 July 2021. Accessed 13 September 2021.
^Colonialism in Puerto Rico. Archived 14 September 2021 at the Wayback Machine Pedro Caban. SUNY-Albany. Latin American, Caribbean, and US Latino Studies Faculty. 2015. p. 516. Accessed 13 September 2021.
^C.D. Burnett, et al., Foreign in a Domestic Sense: Puerto Rico, American Expansion, and the Constitution. Duke University Press. 2001. ISBN 9780822326984
^Definitions of Insular Area Political Organizations. Archived 31 July 2019 at the Wayback Machine U.S. Department of the Interior. Office of Insular Affairs. 2021. Accessed 13 September 2021.
^Juan Gonzalez. Harvest of Empire Penguin Press. 2001. pp.60–63.ISBN 978-0-14-311928-9
^"7 FAM 1120 Acquisition of U.S. Nationality in U.S. Territories and Possessions". U.S. Department of State Foreign Affairs Manual Volume 7 - Consular Affairs. U.S. Department of State. 3 January 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
^"Let Puerto Rico Decide How to end its Colony Status: True Nationhood Stands on the Pillar of Independence." Archived 14 September 2021 at the Wayback Machine Rosalinda de Jesus. The Allentown Morning Call. Republished by The Puerto Rico Herald. July 21, 2002. San Juan, Puerto Rico. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
^"Puerto Rico - The debate over political status". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
^Resolution 748 (VIII) Archived 6 May 2019 at the Wayback Machine. [Note: To access the text of the UN document, scroll down the list that appears until Resolution "748 (VIII)", dated "November 27, 1953", is found. Click on the link "748 (VIII)" to view the text of the Resolution. Important: This is a UN document database query server; documents are served on-the-fly. Saving the link that appears when the document opens will not provide access in the future.] Retrieved 13 September 2021.
^"Puerto Rico: Commonwealth, Statehood, or Independence? Constitutional Rights Foundation". Archived from the original on 10 June 2009.
^Sidney W. Mintz. Three Ancient Colonies. Harvard University Press. 2010. pp. 135-136.
^"Why Puerto Rico has debated U.S. statehood since its colonization". History. 24 July 2020. Archived from the original on 24 February 2021. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
^Juan Torruella, Groundbreaking U.S. Appeals Judge, Dies at 87. Archived 11 September 2021 at the Wayback Machine Sam Roberts. The New York Times. 28 October 2020. Accessed 13 September 2021.
^Can't We Just Sell the World's Oldest Colony and Solve Puerto Rico's Political Status? Archived 14 September 2021 at the Wayback Machine Luis Martínez-Fernández. 16 July 2020. Accessed 13 September 2021.
^Hopes for DC, Puerto Rico statehood rise. Archived 19 August 2021 at the Wayback Machine Marty Johnson and Rafael Bernal. The Hill. 24 September 2020. Accessed 13 September 2021.
^José Trías Monge. Puerto Rico: The trials of the oldest colony in the world. Yale University Press. 1997. p.3. ISBN 9780300076189
^Angel Collado-Schwarz. Decolonization Models for America's Last Colony: Puerto Rico. Syracuse University Press. 2012. ISBN 0815651082
^Live results for Puerto Rico's statehood referendum. Archived 14 September 2021 at the Wayback Machine Nicole Narea. MSN Microsoft News. 5 November 2020. Accessed 13 September 2021.
^Puerto Ricans Vote to Narrowly Approve Controversial Statehood Referendum & Elect 4 LGBTQ Candidates. Archived 8 September 2021 at the Wayback Machine Amy Goodman and Ana Irma Rivera Lassén. Democracy Now! 6 November 2020. Accessed 13 September 2021.
^The Political Travesty of Puerto Rico: Like all U.S. territories, Puerto Rico has no real representation in its own national government. Archived 8 September 2021 at the Wayback Machine David S. Cohen. RollingStone. 26 September 2017. Accessed 15 December 2020.
^Sidney W. Mintz. Three Ancient Colonies: Caribbean Themes and Variations. Cambridge Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. 2010. p. 134.
^Tonio Andrade. "How Taiwan Became Chinese: Dutch, Spanish, and Han Colonization in the Seventeenth Century". Columbia University Press.
Further reading
edit
Aldrich, Robert. Greater France: A History of French Overseas Expansion (1996)
Ansprenger, Franz ed. The Dissolution of the Colonial Empires (1989)
Benjamin, Thomas, ed. Encyclopedia of Western Colonialism Since 1450 (2006).
Ermatinger, James. ed. The Roman Empire: A Historical Encyclopedia (2 vol 2018)
Higham, C. S. S. History Of The British Empire (1921) online free
James, Lawrence. The Illustrated Rise and Fall of the British Empire (2000)
Kia, Mehrdad, ed. The Ottoman Empire: A Historical Encyclopedia (2017)
Page, Melvin E. ed. Colonialism: An International Social, Cultural, and Political Encyclopedia (3 vol. 2003)
Priestley, Herbert Ingram. (France overseas;: A study of modern imperialism 1938) 463pp; encyclopedic coverage as of late 1930s
Tarver, H. Micheal and Emily Slape. The Spanish Empire: A Historical Encyclopedia (2 vol. 2016)
Wesseling, H.L. The European Colonial Empires: 1815–1919 (2015).
External links
edit
Look up colony in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Quotations related to colony at Wikiquote
Non-Self-Governing Territories Listed by the United Nations General Assembly in 2002
Non-Self-Governing Territories Listed by the United Nations General Assembly in 2012
Siberia : History (covers Siberia as Russian colony)