Settler colonialism

Settler colonialism describes when colonial powers forcibly create permanent or long-term settlements on the lands of Indigenous people and other local communities; the ongoing assertion of new systems and worldviews, dismantling of Indigenous cultural forms, and elimination of Indigenous peoples. - Dina Gilio-Whitaker, Eve Tuck & K. Wayne Yang, adapted by Michelle Xie

Examples of settler colonialism

Indigenous Peoples, the Canadian state and settlers

After a few temporary settlements, permanent European colonies started arriving to the Northern half of turtle island, or so-called Canada, in the late 1500s. The effects of these settlements were horrific for the Indigenous inhabitants that had been on the land since time immemorial. See our definitions page for anti-colonialism for examples of it's consequences. Today, projects funded by and to benefit settlers and the Canadian state, are forced through Indigenous territory without the consent of the Indigenous Nations who inhabit the land, further illustrating the effects of settler colonialism.

South Africa, Europeans and settlers

In 1652, the arrival of Europeans sparked the beginning of settler colonialism in South Africa. The Dutch East India company was set up at the Cape, and imported large numbers of slaves from Africa and Asia during the mid-seventeenth century.

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