ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of European colonialism with an emphasis on the Pacific Basin. It explores the multiple meanings and forms of colonialism. Early colonialism, sometimes referred to as "the Age of Discovery", lasted from the late fifteenth century until the early eighteenth. Late colonialism, also known as "high colonialism", began roughly at the end of the Napoleonic wars in 1815. The importance of the settler/control distinction for indigenous peoples cannot be overstated. Settler colonialism never ended, representing the most effective form of long-term domination. Most colonized peoples in Asia rarely saw a European person. Colonial territories were staffed by relatively small numbers of Europeans who ruled through an array of local leaders and ethnic minority allies. Early colonialism was established through military force, while later colonialism was based on political and cultural domination. Asian independence from European colonialism would not be achieved until after World War II, when the Japanese invasion fatally weakened colonial rule.
