ABSTRACT
This term defines the political repercussions of one country’s imposing its values, culture, and administration on another. Contemporary critics generally prefer this word to imperialism, which designates the period of European expansion (roughly 1830-1914) following the abolition of slavery in their colonies by Britain, France, and, later, Spain. Colonialism refers to diverse forms of appropriation with a much longer history. Linked etymologically to “culture” (via the root colonia, Latin for “settlement”), colony suggests a powerful relationship between policies of economic expansion and cultural domination.
