colonisers
Foreign land takers
Colonisers is the British spelling of colonizers—people who establish control over foreign territory and its inhabitants.
The term carries strong negative connotations, evoking exploitation, displacement of indigenous peoples, and cultural destruction: The colonisers imposed their language and religion on the native population.
In contemporary discourse, coloniser often appears as an accusation or insult.
Goods seized violently
- extractionAct of removing
- lootingTheft during disorder
- enslavementForced human ownership
- dispossessionDeprival of property rights
profiteering · pillaging · appropriation · monopolization · taxation · tribute · plantations · mines
Defeating and seizing control
- territoryLand under jurisdiction
- empireDomain under unified control
- outpostRemote military station
- frontierEdge of settlement
expedition · settlement · annexation · colonization · exploration · charter · navigation · discoveries
Forcing into submission
- hegemonyDominant group's control
- oppressionUnjust exercise of power
- controlAuthority to direct
- supremacyHighest rank or power
tyranny · sovereignty · dominance · rule · power · authority · command · ascendancy
First to explore territory
- homesteadersLand-claiming rural settlers
- plantersVessels for cultivating vegetation
- emigrantsPeople leaving their country
- colonistsSettlers in new territory
frontiersmen · pilgrims · landgrab · homesteading · farming · families · encroachment · displacement
Defeating and seizing control
- occupationOne's regular paid work
- incursionHostile territorial penetration
- assaultViolent offensive act
- siegeEncirclement forcing surrender
warfare · armada · battalions · campaign · aggression · military · gunboats · cavalry
Absorbing into a whole
- missionariesReligious workers abroad
- conversionAct of changing states
- erasureAct of wiping away
- reeducationCoerced ideological transformation
westernization · orientalism · othering · exoticism · anthropology · ethnography · museums · artifacts
Organized resistance to power
- rebellionDefiance of established power
- independenceFreedom from external control
- decolonizationEnding imperial control
- liberationRelease from constraint
revolution · guerrilla · martyrs · anticolonial · nationalism · self-determination · repatriation · reparations
plunder
Goods seized violently
- extractionAct of removing
- lootingTheft during disorder
- enslavementForced human ownership
dispossession · profiteering · pillaging · appropriation · monopolization · taxation · tribute · plantations · mines · rubber
conquest
Defeating and seizing control
frontier · expedition · settlement · annexation · colonization · exploration · charter · navigation · discoveries · partition
subjugation
Forcing into submission
- hegemonyDominant group's control
- oppressionUnjust exercise of power
- controlAuthority to direct
supremacy · tyranny · sovereignty · dominance · rule · power · authority · command · ascendancy · mastery
pioneers
First to explore territory
- homesteadersLand-claiming rural settlers
- plantersVessels for cultivating vegetation
- emigrantsPeople leaving their country
colonists · frontiersmen · pilgrims · landgrab · homesteading · farming · families · encroachment · displacement · reservations
conquest
Defeating and seizing control
- occupationOne's regular paid work
- incursionHostile territorial penetration
- assaultViolent offensive act
siege · warfare · armada · battalions · campaign · aggression · military · gunboats · cavalry · massacre
assimilation
Absorbing into a whole
- missionariesReligious workers abroad
- conversionAct of changing states
- erasureAct of wiping away
reeducation · westernization · orientalism · othering · exoticism · anthropology · ethnography · museums · artifacts · repatriation
uprising
Organized resistance to power
- rebellionDefiance of established power
- independenceFreedom from external control
- decolonizationEnding imperial control
liberation · revolution · guerrilla · martyrs · anticolonial · nationalism · self-determination · repatriation · reparations · reconciliation
colonisersindigenous people
Original regional inhabitants
indigenous peoples · native peoples · colonised · natives · First Nations
colonisersanti-colonialists
Opponents of imperial domination
liberators · freedom fighters · anti-imperialists · independence movements · revolutionaries
colonise, colonised, colonises, coloniser, decolonise, decolonised, recolonise, recolonised