Settler colonialism
Encyclopedia
Settler colonialism
is a specific colonial formation whereby foreign family units move into a region and reproduce. Land is thus the key resource in settler colonies, whereas natural (e.g. spices, cotton, oil) and human (e.g. labour, existing trade networks, convertible souls) resources are the main motivation behind other forms of colonialism. Colonialism typically ends, whereas settler colonialism lasts forever, except in the rare event of complete evacuation, or settler decolonization
. The historian of race and settler colonialism Patrick Wolfe writes "settler colonialism destroys to replace", and insists that "invasion", in settler colonial contexts, is "a structure, not an event".
This definition, by contrast, comes from the Settler Colonial Studies website:
.
and later the Roman Empire
commonly established settler colonies in newly conquered regions. The colonists in these colonies were often veterans of the Roman army, who received agricultural land to develop. These agricultural communities provided bastions of loyal citizens in often hostile areas of the Empire, and often accelerated the process of Romanisation among the nearby conquered peoples. For examples of such colonies: near the city of Damascus
in present-day Syria
, the contemporary settlements of Mezze and Deraya can trace their origins back to villages opened for settlement by the Romans during the third century CE. Philip the Arab
, the Roman Emperor from 244 to 249 designated this area around Damascus a colonia, and encouraged settlement by veterans of the VI Ferrata legion, as commemorated by coins minted in the city around this time.
, some European nation-states and their agents adopted policies of colonialism
, competing with each other to establish colonies outside of Europe, at first in the Americas, and later in Asia, Africa, and Oceania.
. The Indigenous Australian population, estimated at about 350,000 at the time of European settlement, declined steeply for 150 years following settlement from 1788, mainly because of infectious disease
combined with forced re-settlement and cultural disintegration. The removal of children, that historians and Indigenous Australians have portrayed as genocide
,
may have made a contribution to the decline in the indigenous population. Such interpretations of Aboriginal history are disputed by some, such as Keith Windshuttle, as being exaggerated or fabricated for political or ideological reasons. This debate is known within Australia as the History Wars
. Following the 1967 referendum
, the Federal government gained the power to implement policies and make laws with respect to Aborigines. Traditional ownership of land — native title
— in Australia first gained legal recognition in 1992, when the High Court
case Mabo v Queensland (No 2)
overturned the notion of Australia as terra nullius
at the time of European occupation.
, Tiberias and Hebron
.
Nevertheless, founders of Zionism
such as Theodore Herzl and Ahad Ha'am envisaged colonising from the outset. In 1967 the French historian Maxime Rodinson
wrote an article later translated and published in English as Israel: A Colonial Settler-State?
Lorenzo Veracini treats Israel's colonial nature as a given and writes that Jewish settlers could expel the British in 1948 only because they had their own colonial relationships inside and outside Israel's new borders.
Veracini believes the possibility of an Israeli disengagement is always latent and this relationship could be severed, through an "accommodation of a Palestinian Israeli autonomy within the institutions of the Israeli state" (Veracini 2006)
Other scholars, such as Daiva Stasiulis and Nira Yuval-Davis,
and Joseph Massad
in the "Post Colonial Colony: time, space and bodies in Palestine/ Israel in the persistence of the Palestinian Question".
have included Israel in their global analysis of settler societies.
Some Palestinian
s express similar opinions - writer and sociologist Jamil Hilal, member of the Palestinian National Council
lives in what he describes as "the heavily-colonised West Bank
", and drew parallels in 1976 between South African and Israeli settler colonialism, noting that "as in Southern Africa
, stretches of land were acquired by the Zionist settlers [...] and their Arab
tenants thrown out". Hilal also argues that the defence industries of the two nations collaborated against the sanctions on South Africa, especially on their respective nuclear programs in the 1980s. Former Palestinian Foreign Minister Dr. Nasser al-Qidwa opposes the policy of Israeli settlements and has described those efforts as colonialism.
Ambassador Rastam Mohd Isa, former permanent representative of Malaysia to the United Nations
, speaking on behalf of the non-aligned movement
(NAM) in 2003 expressed grave concern about "the continuing and escalating Israeli military campaign ... excessive and indiscriminate use of force, and continuing settler colonial activities"
Colonialism
Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...
is a specific colonial formation whereby foreign family units move into a region and reproduce. Land is thus the key resource in settler colonies, whereas natural (e.g. spices, cotton, oil) and human (e.g. labour, existing trade networks, convertible souls) resources are the main motivation behind other forms of colonialism. Colonialism typically ends, whereas settler colonialism lasts forever, except in the rare event of complete evacuation, or settler decolonization
Decolonization
Decolonization refers to the undoing of colonialism, the unequal relation of polities whereby one people or nation establishes and maintains dependent Territory over another...
. The historian of race and settler colonialism Patrick Wolfe writes "settler colonialism destroys to replace", and insists that "invasion", in settler colonial contexts, is "a structure, not an event".
This definition, by contrast, comes from the Settler Colonial Studies website:
In the ancient world
Settler colonialism has occurred extensively throughout human history, including in the ancient world.Hellenes
Greek settlers cloned their city-states through much of the coastlines of the Mediterranean. Under the Macedonian Empire, the Hellenistic pattern of settler colonies extended deep into Asia. However, many of the people living in these cities were non-ethnic Greeks who had adopted the dominant Ancient Greek language and its concomitant Hellenistic civilizationHellenistic civilization
Hellenistic civilization represents the zenith of Greek influence in the ancient world from 323 BCE to about 146 BCE...
.
Rome
The Roman RepublicRoman Republic
The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...
and later the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
commonly established settler colonies in newly conquered regions. The colonists in these colonies were often veterans of the Roman army, who received agricultural land to develop. These agricultural communities provided bastions of loyal citizens in often hostile areas of the Empire, and often accelerated the process of Romanisation among the nearby conquered peoples. For examples of such colonies: near the city of Damascus
Damascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
in present-day Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
, the contemporary settlements of Mezze and Deraya can trace their origins back to villages opened for settlement by the Romans during the third century CE. Philip the Arab
Philip the Arab
Philip the Arab , also known as Philip or Philippus Arabs, was Roman Emperor from 244 to 249. He came from Syria, and rose to become a major figure in the Roman Empire. He achieved power after the death of Gordian III, quickly negotiating peace with the Sassanid Empire...
, the Roman Emperor from 244 to 249 designated this area around Damascus a colonia, and encouraged settlement by veterans of the VI Ferrata legion, as commemorated by coins minted in the city around this time.
In early modern and modern times
During the early modern periodEarly modern period
In history, the early modern period of modern history follows the late Middle Ages. Although the chronological limits of the period are open to debate, the timeframe spans the period after the late portion of the Middle Ages through the beginning of the Age of Revolutions...
, some European nation-states and their agents adopted policies of colonialism
Colonialism
Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...
, competing with each other to establish colonies outside of Europe, at first in the Americas, and later in Asia, Africa, and Oceania.
Settler colonialism in the Americas
Settler colonialism in Oceania
Europeans came and settled in Australia, in many cases displacing Indigenous AustraliansIndigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
. The Indigenous Australian population, estimated at about 350,000 at the time of European settlement, declined steeply for 150 years following settlement from 1788, mainly because of infectious disease
Infectious disease
Infectious diseases, also known as communicable diseases, contagious diseases or transmissible diseases comprise clinically evident illness resulting from the infection, presence and growth of pathogenic biological agents in an individual host organism...
combined with forced re-settlement and cultural disintegration. The removal of children, that historians and Indigenous Australians have portrayed as genocide
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide
The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 9 December 1948 as General Assembly Resolution 260. The Convention entered into force on 12 January 1951. It defines genocide in legal terms, and is the culmination of...
,
may have made a contribution to the decline in the indigenous population. Such interpretations of Aboriginal history are disputed by some, such as Keith Windshuttle, as being exaggerated or fabricated for political or ideological reasons. This debate is known within Australia as the History Wars
History wars
The history wars in Australia are an ongoing public debate over the interpretation of the history of the British colonisation of Australia and development of contemporary Australian society...
. Following the 1967 referendum
Australian referendum, 1967 (Aboriginals)
The referendum of 27 May 1967 approved two amendments to the Australian constitution relating to Indigenous Australians. Technically it was a vote on the Constitution Alteration 1967, which became law on 10 August 1967 following the results of the referendum...
, the Federal government gained the power to implement policies and make laws with respect to Aborigines. Traditional ownership of land — native title
Native title
Native title is the Australian version of the common law doctrine of aboriginal title.Native title is "the recognition by Australian law that some Indigenous people have rights and interests to their land that come from their traditional laws and customs"...
— in Australia first gained legal recognition in 1992, when the High Court
High Court of Australia
The High Court of Australia is the supreme court in the Australian court hierarchy and the final court of appeal in Australia. It has both original and appellate jurisdiction, has the power of judicial review over laws passed by the Parliament of Australia and the parliaments of the States, and...
case Mabo v Queensland (No 2)
Mabo v Queensland
Mabo v Queensland was a landmark High Court of Australia decision recognising native title in Australia for the first time...
overturned the notion of Australia as terra nullius
Terra nullius
Terra nullius is a Latin expression deriving from Roman law meaning "land belonging to no one" , which is used in international law to describe territory which has never been subject to the sovereignty of any state, or over which any prior sovereign has expressly or implicitly relinquished...
at the time of European occupation.
Settler colonialism in Asia
Jews have lived in Palestine continuously since ancient times, particularly in the Four Holy Cities: Jerusalem, SafedSafed
Safed , is a city in the Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevation of , Safed is the highest city in the Galilee and of Israel. Due to its high elevation, Safed experiences warm summers and cold, often snowy, winters...
, Tiberias and Hebron
Hebron
Hebron , is located in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judean Mountains, it lies 930 meters above sea level. It is the largest city in the West Bank and home to around 165,000 Palestinians, and over 500 Jewish settlers concentrated in and around the old quarter...
.
Nevertheless, founders of Zionism
Zionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
such as Theodore Herzl and Ahad Ha'am envisaged colonising from the outset. In 1967 the French historian Maxime Rodinson
Maxime Rodinson
Maxime Rodinson was a French Marxist historian, sociologist and orientalist. He was the son of a Russian-Polish clothing trader and his wife who both died in the Auschwitz concentration camp. After studying oriental languages, he became a professor of Ethiopian at EPHE...
wrote an article later translated and published in English as Israel: A Colonial Settler-State?
Lorenzo Veracini treats Israel's colonial nature as a given and writes that Jewish settlers could expel the British in 1948 only because they had their own colonial relationships inside and outside Israel's new borders.
Veracini believes the possibility of an Israeli disengagement is always latent and this relationship could be severed, through an "accommodation of a Palestinian Israeli autonomy within the institutions of the Israeli state" (Veracini 2006)
Other scholars, such as Daiva Stasiulis and Nira Yuval-Davis,
and Joseph Massad
Joseph Massad
Joseph Andoni Massad is Associate Professor of Modern Arab Politics and Intellectual History in the Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies at Columbia University, whose academic work has focused on Palestinian, Jordanian, and Israeli nationalism...
in the "Post Colonial Colony: time, space and bodies in Palestine/ Israel in the persistence of the Palestinian Question".
have included Israel in their global analysis of settler societies.
Some Palestinian
Palestinian people
The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
s express similar opinions - writer and sociologist Jamil Hilal, member of the Palestinian National Council
Palestinian National Council
The Palestinian National Council is the legislative body of the Palestine Liberation Organization and elects its Executive Committee, which assumes leadership of the organization between its sessions. The Council normally meets every two years. Resolutions are passed by a simple majority with a...
lives in what he describes as "the heavily-colonised West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
", and drew parallels in 1976 between South African and Israeli settler colonialism, noting that "as in Southern Africa
Southern Africa
Southern Africa is the southernmost region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. Within the region are numerous territories, including the Republic of South Africa ; nowadays, the simpler term South Africa is generally reserved for the country in English.-UN...
, stretches of land were acquired by the Zionist settlers [...] and their Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
tenants thrown out". Hilal also argues that the defence industries of the two nations collaborated against the sanctions on South Africa, especially on their respective nuclear programs in the 1980s. Former Palestinian Foreign Minister Dr. Nasser al-Qidwa opposes the policy of Israeli settlements and has described those efforts as colonialism.
Ambassador Rastam Mohd Isa, former permanent representative of Malaysia to the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
, speaking on behalf of the non-aligned movement
Non-Aligned Movement
The Non-Aligned Movement is a group of states considering themselves not aligned formally with or against any major power bloc. As of 2011, the movement had 120 members and 17 observer countries...
(NAM) in 2003 expressed grave concern about "the continuing and escalating Israeli military campaign ... excessive and indiscriminate use of force, and continuing settler colonial activities"
See also
- ColonialismColonialismColonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...
- ExpansionismExpansionismIn general, expansionism consists of expansionist policies of governments and states. While some have linked the term to promoting economic growth , more commonly expansionism refers to the doctrine of a state expanding its territorial base usually, though not necessarily, by means of military...
- LebensraumLebensraumwas one of the major political ideas of Adolf Hitler, and an important component of Nazi ideology. It served as the motivation for the expansionist policies of Nazi Germany, aiming to provide extra space for the growth of the German population, for a Greater Germany...
- Human migrationHuman migrationHuman migration is physical movement by humans from one area to another, sometimes over long distances or in large groups. Historically this movement was nomadic, often causing significant conflict with the indigenous population and their displacement or cultural assimilation. Only a few nomadic...
- OverpopulationOverpopulationOverpopulation is a condition where an organism's numbers exceed the carrying capacity of its habitat. The term often refers to the relationship between the human population and its environment, the Earth...
- ImperialismImperialismImperialism, as defined by Dictionary of Human Geography, is "the creation and/or maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural, and territorial relationships, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination." The imperialism of the last 500 years,...
- List of diasporas
Further reading
- Settler Colonialism in the Twentieth Century (edited by Susan PedersenSusan Pedersen (historian)Susan Pedersen is a historian, and James P. Shenton Professor of the Core Curriculum at Columbia University. Pedersen focuses on 19th and 20th century British history, women's history, settler colonialism, and the history of international institutions.-Life:...
and Caroline ElkinsCaroline ElkinsCaroline Elkins is a professor of History at Harvard University. She studies the colonial encounter in Africa during the twentieth century, and the British treatment of the Kikuyu in Kenya....
, Routledge, 2005) - Irwin J. Mansdorf: Is Israel a Colonial State? Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs