| [image] | This article may not conform to the neutral point of view policy. A Wikipedian has nominated this article to be checked for its neutrality. Discussion of this nomination can be found on the talk page. |
Colonisation (or colonization) is the act where life forms move into a distant area where their kind is sparse or not yet existing at all and set up new settlements in the area. Colonisation applies to all life forms in a sense though it is most often used in reference to insects and humans. Insect colonisation varies from species to species though it most often involves a queen setting out from its parent colony and establishing a colony of her own at a suitable location.
Human colonisation is not to be confused with Colonialism or Imperialism, as colonisation is a broader category, encompassing all large-scale immigrations of an established population to a 'new' location, and expansion of their civilisation into this area. This process may or may not victimise an indigenous population (depending first on whether there is any indigenous population to victimise).
Another great colonisation of ancient times was that of the Romans. The Roman Empire conquered a large part of Western Europe, North Africa and west Asia. Though in North Africa and west Asia they were often conquering civilised peoples, as they moved north into Europe they often encountered little more than rural tribes with very little in the way of cities. In these areas, waves of Roman colonisation often followed the conquest of the area.
Many of the current great cities of Europe began as Roman colonies, such as the German city Köln (better known in its French form Cologne), which was originally called Colonia Claudia by the Romans; and the British capital city of London which the Romans began as Londinium.
Another great colonising people were the Vikings of Scandinavia. The Vikings are best known as raiders, setting out from their original homes in Denmark, southern Norway and southern Sweden to pillage the coastlines of northern Europe and it is as this they mostly began however as time went by the Vikings moved more onto trade rather then raiding and established colonies again many of which exist as cities today e.g. York, Novogrod and Dublin. It was also the Vikings who first discovered Iceland establishing colonies here before moving onto Greenland where they briefly held colonies before the world's climate took a turn for the worse forcing them out. There is even very strong evidence that the Vikings launched a unsuccessful attempt at colonising a area known as Vinland which is often placed on Newfoundland or the surrounding coastline of Canada.
Originally there was very little colonisation other then the soldiers and adventurers who had came to these areas seeking wealth (many of whom returned to Europe as rich men) however as time went by and the natives began to die out via the new disease pool of Europe and oppression by cruel landlords leaving a lot of vacant space open for colonisation by Europeans. Despite this the Spanish mode of colonisation still mostly consisted of young men who found native wives leading to the creation of a hybrid native/European culture.
The 17th century saw other European nations beginning to colonise the Americas (mainly the Netherlands, France and England however many other nations attempted colonies) and these Europeans largely saw conventional movements of families into new lands.
The desire for labour in the Americas by the various European nations also led to the booming of the African slave trade leading to black 'colonisation' of the Americas- today this is especially apparent in the Caribbean where the largest ethnic group is of African descent.
The age of Imperialism in the 19th century saw much colonisation by the European powers in Australasia and Africa.
Current debates on colonization and human rights (Falk 2000) raise questions about the notion of benign colonialism. The dominant language, culture and values of colonizers imposed on colonised peoples is often narrated as salutary. Dominant social and cultural institutions contributed to faciliating the entry of indigenous peoples trapped in unsustainable subsistence economies into a more progressive socio-economic reality. Previously colonised peoples claim that the colonization process resulted in a parallel process of the colonization of the minds of indigenous peoples. The process of decolonization of memory (Ricoeur 1980), history and the spirit is crucial for the social inclusion (OECD) of indigenous peoples and nations within nations, such as Canada.
Science policy colonization (Weingart and Mouton (2004) refers to the rising influence of scientific experts from developed democracies on governance and policy-making in emerging democracies. In this period of mega-science projects such as those examining the impact of bio-engineering and climate change, the role of emerging or developing democracies may be reduced to collectors or harvesters of raw data. Outside researchers are more likely to perform the key roles of processing, analysing, interpreting, drawing conclusions and recommendations. These results are then published, reported and disseminated as unbiased scientific results. There are concerns that these outside (or inside) discipline-specific experts either from or trained in more advanced democracies, may harbour unchallenged assumptions about development policies that run counter to the best interests of emerging democracies such as South Africa (Weingart and Mouton (2004). There are also concerns (UNESCO 1999) that the accountability mechanisms imposed on knowledge experts are inadequate. There is a threat therefore that scientific or knowledge experts may act as the next generation colonizing force using data gathered in developing countries as raw resource to the detriment of the science-policy-colonised peoples and the benefit of more developed nations.
Some consider this use of the term to refer more to forms of Colonialism than to actual colonisation, as peoples don't move permanently, but only a small number of people move to a target region temporarily, take what they want, deal for more, and leave. This is more akin to Tourism, Looting or Raiding than it is to actual colonisation.
On the other hand, if the planet is already inhabited, much less benign consequences ensue: indeed, some science fiction authors have used the colonisation of alien planets by humans, or the colonisation of Earth by aliens, to explore the real-world issues surrounding the phenomenon. Such works include those of Mary Doria Russell, Arrow and Children of God.
Space colonisation seems to have become more plausible in today's age, as the process of Terraforming could theoretically be used to create a breathable atmosphere.
However, this is not necessarily so if in time other species would be discovered during a galactic expansion which would also require the need for sharing the galactic space with other species.