# Colonialism **Domain:** History / Political Economy **Doc Type:** Concept Node **Classification:** Infrastructure Concept **Maturity:** Foundational **Related:** [[Imperialism]], [[Extraction]], [[Resource Exploitation]], [[Institutional Legacy]], [[Dependency]], [[Reparations]] --- ## Definition **Colonialism** refers to **the political and economic system through which wealthy, militarily-powerful nations establish control over weaker territories and populations, extracting resources, labor, and knowledge while imposing administrative systems, cultural frameworks, and institutional dependencies that persist long after formal political independence**. Colonialism creates structured inequality between metropole and colony. --- ## General Context European colonialism expanded from the 15th century, establishing global dominance by the 19th century. Colonial extraction depleted resources, disrupted indigenous societies, and created institutional legacies (borders, laws, economic dependence) persisting today. Decolonization occurred mostly in the 20th century, but economic colonialism (dependency on exports, structural adjustment) continues. Colonial violence, racism, and domination created deep injustices that reparations and decolonization efforts continue to address. --- ## Reparative Justice Context [[articles/Climate Justice as a Form of Reparative Equity|Climate Justice]] frames climate adaptation as addressing colonial extraction legacies. Climate colonialism perpetuates dependencies as wealthy nations control climate technology and adaptation finance. --- ## Semiotic Colonization Context Colonial administration extended to categories and language. Oxford University Press promoted the OED as "An Imperial Asset" in 1916, and [[wiki/Macaulay's Minute on Indian Education|Macaulay's 1835 Minute]] built an intermediary class trained into English categories. [[articles/war with empire/The Real No Kings Moment and Who Wrote the Super-intelligence Ban|The Real No Kings Moment]] and [[articles/Kybernetik Anthropology and The Colonial Architecture of Digital Intelligence|Kybernetik Anthropology]] follow the same mechanism into language models; see [[wiki/Semiotic Colonization|Semiotic Colonization]] and [[wiki/Linguistic Imperialism|Linguistic Imperialism]]. --- ## Key Insight Colonialism exemplifies **systematic extraction justified by ideology**—creating institutional dependencies that persist through economic logic after political independence. --- ## See Also [[Climate Justice]], [[Reparative Justice]], [[Commercial Reuse]], [[Charter Cities]], [[Clean-Slate Conditions]]