Colonialism

The general term

Colonialism is a general term that usually refers to the establishment and maintenance of a range of practices and relations of colonization, installing coloniality and possibly colonies, for the purposes of imperialist control and exploitation - usually based on a process whereby one group of people/area establishes itself as superior to other peoples and areas.

However, the notion is open to debate, for there is no clear definition of colonialism and definitions may vary depending on the use of the term and context. See for example the entries in various online encyclopaedias, e.g:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonialism

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/colonialism

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/colonialism/

Colonialism and South Africa

In the ESAT enclopaedia, our focus is naturally on the notion of colonialism and the way the term has specifically been used (and evolved) with reference to South Africa and its history .