Colonialism is the establishment, exploitation, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of
colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a set of unequal relationships between the colonial power and the colony and between the colonists and the
indigenous population.
The
European colonial period was the era from the 1500s to the mid-1900s when several European powers (particularly, but not exclusively, Portugal, Spain, Britain, the Netherlands and France) established colonies in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. At first the countries followed
mercantilist policies designed to strengthen the home economy at the expense of rivals, so the colonies were usually allowed to trade only with the mother country. By the mid-19th century, however, the powerful British Empire gave up mercantilism and trade restrictions and introduced the principle of
free trade, with few restrictions or tariffs.