Colonialism



"Colonialism? Well, yeah. That's great. None of these great European empires did colonize my great country once it was only a monarchy... or either way, divided monarchies, only throughout so many centuries, but since then, it was the fault of Japan, one of the greatest three non-European empires, alongside China and the Ottoman Empire, who colonized my country in the very first place when it was a failed empire. Oh, and colonialism is rising again today in World War III."

--Su Ji-Hoon, The Worry

Colonialism is the policy of a foreign polity seeking to extend or retain its authority over other people or territories, generally with the aim of opening trade opportunities. The colonizing country seeks to benefit from the colonized country or land mass. Many of the colonized countries were not countries at all prior to colonization. In the process, colonizers imposed their religion, economics, and medicinal practices on the natives. Some argue this was a positive move toward modernization, while other scholars refute this theory as being biased and Eurocentric, noting that modernization is a concept introduced by Europeans. Colonialism is largely regarded as a relationship of domination of an indigenous majority by a minority of foreign invaders where the latter rule in pursuit of its interests.