A few words on settler colonialism

 

I would like to see more European people reconsider and see how deeply, deeply colonial the United States is. 

And I think for anyone who's from a former colony, those decolonised more recently - like I've lived in Kenya, my family's from Algeria... - it's something that's so obvious. 

But I was talking about this with British friends, who said they didn't like the 'colonial feel' in Malta or Cyprus, and they didn't see and colonial heritage or feel in 'New' England or 'New' York State... 

I think about the the US of A. as a settler colony all the time, on the contrary. 

In anything America does politically, internationally, diplomatically, visually, cinematically, photographically, in it, I see a land that's been squared up by powerful men who had stolen it and the ghosts of the people they exterminated. And I'm really, really surprised that British people have completely put that in a tiny box in the back of their mind.

Reminder:

-The US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Israel — these are the victorious settler colonies. The settlers didn’t just occupy; they became the state, buried the indigenous populations politically and culturally, and rewrote history to legitimise their presence.

-Algeria, by contrast, is one of the very rare examples where settler colonialism was defeated — where the colonised not only regained their land but also forced the settlers to leave. And they had to leave because they had no real claim to citizenship or belonging in a liberated Algeria.

So... Settler Colonies are, mostly the colonies that won...

Not every colony with European settlers qualifies as "settler colonies". Maybe the term is misunderstood or used too broadly. . 

A settler colony is not just a place where settlers arrived; it's a place where the settler population came with the intent to stay, to replace or dominate the native population permanently, and to build a state that reflects their interests and identity. Crucially, it's a colonial project that won.

The clearest examples of successful settler colonialism are the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and, more recently, Israel. In these places, the settler population didn't just occupy territory—they became the state. They pushed out or subdued Indigenous populations, erased or appropriated local cultures, and rewrote history to legitimise their presence. These are not merely post-colonies; they are settler states built atop the near-total marginalisation of native peoples.

By contrast, countries like Algeria represent rare examples of failed settler colonialism. The French in Algeria attempted to create a "French Algeria," complete with mass European migration and the granting of French citizenship to settlers. But after a brutal war of liberation, the colonised population forced the settlers out. Independence came not only with sovereignty but also with the end of the settler project.

In comparison, in Kenya, while there were British settlers, their numbers were relatively small. They exploited land and labour, ruled through racial hierarchy, and brought in people from the Indian subcontinent... But the settler population never became demographically dominant. Nor did they succeed in reshaping the country into a British homeland. 

What distinguishes settler colonialism is not merely the presence of settlers, but the establishment of a state by and for the settlers, at the expense of the original inhabitants. When that project succeeds, it carries a unique legacy. 

Settler states often portray themselves as innocent democracies, even as they continue to marginalise Indigenous peoples, other immigrants (like enslaved then later liberated Africans) and deny the foundational violence of their creation.

Meanwhile, the former 'metropoles'—France and Britain, for instance—struggle with national narratives clinging to imperial nostalgia, even as they insist that their colonial pasts were more benign.

This distinction matters. It helps us understand global power dynamics of today. 

The victorious settler colonies are heavily invested in the Western liberal world order and often speak with the greatest moral authority—all while sitting atop unresolved histories of dispossession. They are part of 'The West' and the 'G7', the first seven economies (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the US). They sit at the table of the victors... 

Remembering this is not just a history nerds' point. It is key to any honest reckoning with colonialism and its ongoing consequences.