What does colonized mean?
"Colonized" is the past tense and past participle of the verb "colonize," meaning to have seized and settled political control over a territory and its people, usually for economic exploitation. The term is central to discussions of empire: European nations colonized much of Asia, Africa, and the Americas between the fifteenth and twentieth centuries, and the legacy of that process still shapes global politics, language, and culture today. Because of this history, the word carries heavy connotations of conquest, dispossession, and subjugation when used about human societies. Yet "colonized" also has an entirely neutral scientific sense: ecologists speak of species that have colonized a new island, and microbiologists of bacteria that have colonized a surface or organism. This dual life — charged in historical discourse, technical in the sciences — makes the word remarkably versatile, appearing everywhere from history books and postcolonial literature to biology papers and medical reports.
verbPast tense and past participle of "colonize": to have established control over an indigenous people and their territory, often by settling it and exploiting its resources.
- To have taken political and economic control of a foreign territory and its people, typically settling it and exploiting its resources.
- In biology, to have established a population of organisms in a new habitat or on a new host.
"Britain colonized vast territories across Asia and Africa during the nineteenth century."
"The Portuguese colonized Brazil beginning in the early sixteenth century."
"Within months, bacteria had colonized the surface of the pond."
Every country on Earth has been either colonized or a colonizer at some point in recorded history — often both.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of colonized
"Colonized" derives ultimately from the Latin "colonus" (farmer, settler) and "colonia" (settlement), via the English verb "colonize," which emerged in the early seventeenth century. The same Latin root gave rise to the words "colony" and "colonial," and, more distantly, to "culture" and "cultivate" — all connected through the idea of tilling and settling land. The related Romance languages preserve cognates such as French "coloniser" and Spanish "colonizar."
Related word forms
How colonized is actually used
"Colonized" carries strong historical and political weight when applied to peoples and lands, often implying exploitation and loss of sovereignty; in postcolonial discourse it is frequently paired with "former," "previously," or "newly." In scientific writing (ecology, microbiology, medicine), the same form describes organisms establishing themselves in a habitat or on a host, where it is neutral in tone.
Easily confused with colonized
"Colonized" is the past tense of the verb describing the act of taking control of a place, while "colonial" is an adjective describing anything relating to or characteristic of colonies.