and history
, a colony is a territory under the immediate political control of a state
. For colonies in antiquity
, city-state
s would often found their own colonies. Some colonies were historically countries, while others were territories without definite statehood from their inception. The metropolitan
state is the state that owns the colony. In Ancient Greece
, the city that founded a colony was called the metropolis. Mother country is a reference to the metropolitan state from the point of view of citizens who live in its colony.
1583 Sir Humphrey Gilbert establishes the first English colony in North America, at what is now St John's, Newfoundland.
1607 Jamestown, Virginia is settled as an English colony.
1619 38 colonists from Berkeley Parish in England disembark in Virginia and give thanks to God (this is considered by many to be the first Thanksgiving in the Americas).
1682 William Penn receives the area that is now the state of Delaware, and adds it to his colony of Pennsylvania.
1683 William Penn brings 13 German immigrant families to the colony of Pennsylvania, marking the first major immigration of German people to America.
1784 Russia establishes a colony at Kodiak, Alaska.
1840 The transporting of British convicts to the New South Wales colony is abolished.
1856 The colonial Tasmanian Parliament passes the second piece of legislation (the Electoral Act of 1856) anywhere in the world providing for elections by way of a secret ballot.
1890 Eritrea is consolidated into a colony by the Italian government.
1910 Japan changes Korea's name to ''Chōsen'' and appoints a governor-general to rule its new colony.