Colonialism : Encyclopedia of Global Studies

Historically, colonies in the strict sense of “settlements” had existed long before the advent of global capitalism; the English word colony is derived from the ancient Latin term colonia, denoting an outpost or settlement. However, colonialism as a principle of imperial statecraft and an effective strategy of capitalist expansion that involved sustained appropriation of the resources of other societies, indeed regions, of the world for the benefit of the colonizing society, backed by an elaborate ideological justificatory apparatus, is a modern, West European invention par excellence, emerging from the 15th century onward.