Colonization

[kol-uh-nahyz] /ˈkɒl əˌnaɪz/

verb (used with object), colonized, colonizing.
1.
to establish a in; settle:
England colonized Australia.
2.
to form a colony of:
to colonize laborers in a mining region.
verb (used without object), colonized, colonizing.
3.
to form a colony:
They went out to Australia to colonize.
4.
to settle in a colony.
/ˈkɒləˌnaɪz/
verb
1.
to send colonists to or establish a colony in (an area)
2.
to settle in (an area) as colonists
3.
(transitive) to transform (a community) into a colony
4.
(of plants and animals) to become established in (a new environment)
n.

1766, noun of action from colonize.
v.

1620s, “to settle with colonists,” from stem of Latin colonus “tiller of the soil, farmer” (see colony); in sense “to make another place into a national dependency” without regard for settlement there by 1790s (e.g. in reference to French activity in Egypt or British work in India), and probably directly from colony.

No principle ought ever to be tolerated or acted upon, that does not proceed on the basis of India being considered as the temporary residence of a great British Establishment, for the good government of the country, upon steady and uniform principles, and of a large British factory, for the beneficial management of its trade, upon rules applicable to the state and manners of the country. [Henry Dundas, Chairman of the East-India Company, letter, April 2, 1800]

Related: Colonized; colonizing.

colonization
(kŏl’ə-nĭ-zā’shən)
The spreading of a species into a new habitat. For example, flying insects and birds are often the first animal species to initiate colonization of barren islands newly formed by vulcanism or falling water levels. The first plant species to colonize such islands are often transported there as airborne seeds or through the droppings of birds.