Villagization is the (usually compulsory) resettlement of people into designated villages by government or military authorities.

Villagization may be used as a tactic by a government or military power to facilitate control over a previously scattered rural population believed to harbour disloyal or rebel elements. Examples include Indian removal

Indian Removal

Indian removal was a nineteenth century policy of the government of the United States to relocate Native American tribes living east of the Mississippi River to lands west of the river...

 to reservations by the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, the British New Villages programme to defeat communist rebels during the Malayan Emergency

Malayan Emergency

The Malayan Emergency was a guerrilla war fought between Commonwealth armed forces and the Malayan National Liberation Army , the military arm of the Malayan Communist Party, from 1948 to 1960....

, the U.S. "Strategic Hamlet Program

Strategic Hamlet Program

The Strategic Hamlet Program was a plan by the governments of South Vietnam and the United States during the Vietnam War to combat the Communist insurgency by means of population transfer.In 1961, U.S...

" in the Vietnam War

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

 and the "protected villages" strategy of Uganda

Uganda

Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...

 intended for use against the Lord's Resistance Army

Lord's Resistance Army

The Lord's Resistance Army insurgency is an ongoing guerrilla campaign waged since 1987 by the Lord's Resistance Army rebel group, operating mainly in northern Uganda, but also in South Sudan and eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo...

 insurgency. The British colonial government in Kenya

Kenya

Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...

 used a similar approach to exert control over Kikuyu tribespeople during the Mau Mau Uprising

Mau Mau Uprising

The Mau Mau Uprising was a military conflict that took place in Kenya between 1952 and 1960...

, which in turn inspired the "Manyatta" strategy of independent Kenya against ethnic Somalis

Somali people

Somalis are an ethnic group located in the Horn of Africa, also known as the Somali Peninsula. The overwhelming majority of Somalis speak the Somali language, which is part of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family...

 during the Shifta War

Shifta War

The Shifta War was a secessionist conflict in which ethnic Somalis in the Northern Frontier District of Kenya attempted to join with their fellow Somalis in a Greater Somalia...

. However, forced resettlement may sometimes be counter-productive where it increases resentment among an already restive population against the ruling regime.

Villagization may also be used as part of a programme of collectivization of farming and other economic activity, as in Tanzania

Tanzania

The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...

 under the Ujamaa

Ujamaa

Ujamaa was the concept that formed the basis of Julius Nyerere's social and economic development policies in Tanzania just after it gained independence from Britain in 1961...

 policy set out in the Arusha Declaration

Arusha Declaration

The Arusha Declaration was made by Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere on 5 February 1967, outlining the principles of Ujamaa to develop the nation's economy...

, and in Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

 under Mengistu.