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Settler colonialism is defined as the perpetuation of colonial-esque relationships of economic domination by european settlers. This continuation of a submissive socio-economic relationship between the indigenous peoples of a territory and the settlers has a number of ways in which it expresses itself. Even so, the most obvious expression of this is that the "settler population in colonized space are the owners and residents of colonized territory".

Who are the settlers?

Chiefly european, the settlers are those who travelled from european nation-states to newly-found territories with the aim of living there permanently and/or managing the resources that they found. Many of this countries gained greatly from their colonised territories, examples of this are the apexes of the british and the spanish empire. While some territories gained independence and the indigenous people gained some freedoms, rarely did those liberties reach the point in which a full participation in important affairs was possible. For example, in India, the creation of genuine bureaucratic government boosted the formation of indigenous bourgeoisie. The settlers came from the following countries:

• Spain (Latin-America except Brazil, see Spanish Empire)
• England (United States of America, see British Empire)
• The Netherlands (South Africa, Netherlands Antilles, see Dutch empire)
• Portugal (Brazil, East Timor, Cape Verde, see Portuguese Empire)
• France (Algeria, Cote d'Ivoire, see French colonial empires)

While some of this countries still have control over their colonial settlements, many of the territories that were once subject to the power of some other nation have now gained de jure independence. In spite of this, it might be argued that de facto independence is yet to be achieved, as ties of dependence are yet to be severed. In other cases, while those independent territories are not subject to external influence to the extent that they were before, the population of those territories still experiences considerable turmoil derived from economical disparity (see Gini coefficient) and poor living conditions derived from the past rule of a colonial power.

Racism and settler colonialism

Racism often pervaded the white settlers of new territories, which in many cases resulted in the destruction, or in the best cases, complete assimilation, of the culture of the original inhabitants of the original peoples of the colonised territories.

See also: Casta, White Australia policy, Apartheid

Settler colonialism in Africa

Due to the cohesive and integrated character of white settlers in countries such as South Africa, a new and complicated set of conditions that lead to exploitation of the indigenous people by the white minority was created. The elite of the country controls almost all (if not all) the relevant aspects of the political and economical life of the country. The most evident result of this domination was the Apartheid.

Settler colonialism in Oceania

Australia is a settler society. Europeans came and settled in Australia, in many cases displacing Indigenous Australians. The Indigenous Australian population, estimated at about 350,000 at the time of European settlement, declined steeply for 150 years following settlement, mainly because of infectious disease combined with forced re-settlement and cultural disintegration. The removal of children, that some historians and Indigenous Australians have argued could be considered to constitute genocide by some definitions, may have made a contribution to the decline in the indigenous population. Such interpretations of Aboriginal history are disputed by some 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 — was not recognised until 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.

See also: White Australia policy

Settler colonialism in Latin-America

In the case of Mexico, the mexican independence movement was initiated by criollos who wanted to seize the power from the spanish settlers. Miguel Hidalgo used banners with the slogans which included "Long live Fernando VII!, Long live the Americas and death to the corrupt government!".

This reflected that the independence movement wasn't meant to dissociate Mexico from its ties to Spain as much as it was meant to seize power from a corrupt elite to claim it for a new elite in Mexico. Many years later a popular uprising would be triggered by the past existence of the castas system, a very concentrated land ownership, an economical system in which majority of the population lived in extreme poverty, and deep social unrest.

References

1. http://ias.berkeley.edu/orias/Summer2000summary.html
2. Smith, L. (1980), The Aboriginal Population of Australia, Australian National University Press, Canberra
3. Tatz, C. (1999). Genocide in Australia, AIATSIS Research Discussion Papers No 8, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, Canberra
4. Windschuttle, K. (2001). The Fabrication of Aboriginal History, The New Criterion Vol. 20, No. 1, September 20.

• Colonialism
• Cultural geography
• Political geography