HIST103: World History (1600–Present)

Settler colonies were areas outside Europe in which so many European immigrants voluntarily settled that their numbers were large enough to secure their political dominance, even if they were in a minority among the indigenous population.¹

Up to the early 19th century, colonies were overwhelmingly settler colonies, whereas thereafter, settler colonies were a particular form of colony. In classical antiquity, "colony" specifically meant a compact settlement of emigrants from a polis or, in the Roman context, a settlement of army veterans.

The term "settler colony" is thus tautological when one takes the meaning of colony as it was used in classical antiquity. We nevertheless use this term because, from the 19th century, actual settlement became the exception rather than the norm. The concept of colonialism, which only emerged in the late 19th century, has connotations of "foreign rule."

A colony is an "offshoot" of a society that is established in a distant region. This implies two things:

1. In its early years, a colony does not consist of random individuals thrown together but of people who have a common heritage; this common heritage can be a common kingdom, region, or even city of origin. It can be a common religious heritage, as in the case of the Puritans, or it can refer to a shared experience, as in the case of the Australian convicts. 

2. Consequently, the group of emigrants brings important institutions from the society of origin with them, which they take as a given and which, due to the relative homogeneity of the emigrants, are not called into question: social hierarchies, settlement forms, political institutions, and the legal system.

While these institutions are adapted to the new circumstances and colonies are never a carbon copy of the society of origin, precisely, these institutions are the cause of many conflicts with the indigenous population. The latter does not grasp the meaning of these institutions. Just as conversely, the institutions of the indigenous population are viewed by the settlers as alien and often also as primitive and incomprehensible.

As a global historical phenomenon, settler colonies are not exclusive to modern European history or to European settlers. There are many other examples of settlements of people in neighboring or distant territories in global history.² However, this article only discusses the settler colonies under European rule.

The settlers in these colonies were predominantly of European heritage, though in the 19th century, Asians also settled in some European colonies. European settler colonies existed from the beginning of European overseas expansion, and even the United States can be considered a settler colony up to the end of the 19th century because it was only then that the free space for settlement disappeared.³