COLONY, a term denoting the settlement of the subjects of a State beyond its territorial limits. It is applied by usage to a group of the subjects of one sovereign State living within the bounds of another, and, in this sense, most of the European coun tries have "colonies" in London. By a variant of this usage the term is applied also to groups of persons of one original nation ality admitted as denizens to another State. Thus in the United States there are many "colonies" or emigrants from European powers. More strictly the term refers to (a) the settlement of the subjects of a State in an area outside its geographical boundaries, but within its administrative sphere ; or (b) a territorial unit out side the limits of a State but closely associated with it by ties of nationality, administration, economic interest or sentiment. The first finds examples in the Teutonic colonies settled in the Baltic provinces and in colonies of similar type but different nationali ties in the Balkan peninsula. The second and more general defi nition covers all the variations of colony connected with those States which are commonly described as "colonial powers." Early Period.—The history of colonization in the European sphere is generally opened with the activities of the Phoenicians on the Mediterranean sea-board. At first from Tyre, and later also from Carthage, the Phoenicians founded a series of settle ments among the islands and along the North African coast. Their establishment was due to the necessities of trade expansion, and they remained trading-posts of the type which became gen eral in a later age in the history of European contact with the East.
The next colonizing power in this region was Greece. In this case the character of the colonies and the motives of their estab lishment were more diverse, and present many points of compari son with modern colonization. Some were, like the Phoenician colonies, outposts for trade; but desire for adventure, political discontent and the pressure of population all contributed to the exodus from the city-states, as they did later to emigration from Britain. The system of government in these colonies was of a kind less familiar in modern times. All the Greek colonies, except those founded by Athens, were independent of the parent State, bound to it only by economic or military advantage or by senti ment ; and this independence was, moreover, assumed from the be ginning, in contrast to the slow growth of autonomy in the British dominions.
The Roman colony was again of a different type. The expansion of Rome was by land, and its method was by conquest, and its modern parallel is to be found in the Balkans or the Baltic rather than among the colonies of "colonizing powers." The Roman colonies of Imperial Rome were settlements within a prov ince, with certain characteristics and privileges, and were primarily centres for the spread of Roman influences in civilization and culture.
Between the downfall of Rome and the great expansion of Europe in the i 5th and i 6th centuries, the chief exponents of colonization were the city-states of the Italian sea-board. Both Genoa and Venice planted colonies in the i 2th and i3th centuries along the Spanish and Barbary coasts, in Dalmatia and among the Greek islands. Like the Phoenician settlements these were mainly out-posts for trade, though the grant of land to the great Venetian families in Dalmatia and the islands offers a closer approximation to modern colonizing methods.
The motives of colonization in this period included most of those which had led to earlier activities. The increase of trade was perhaps the most important factor, but desire for adventure and the force of religious or political discontent explained much of the emigration. The proselytizing zeal of Portugal and Spain was also of some importance, while the whole movement gained strength and persistence from international rivalries. Colonies changed hands as the result of European wars; the Dutch suc ceeded Portugal in the Spice islands, and England struggled with France for trading predominance on the African coast and in India, while the French colonies of Canada and certain West Indian islands passed to English control. Trade was the most im portant consideration for all these colonizing powers, and all fol lowed the lead of Spain and Portugal in seeking a monopoly of their colonial products. They met with varying success. Both the competition and the colonies grew rapidly in the i 7th century, and two factors came to determine the measure of the success of the parent State : sea-power was needed to ward off interloping rivals, and cargoes of manufactured goods to supply the colonists' demands. Spain lacked both in the i 7th century; Holland could not compete with France or England, and these two were left as the chief protagonists in the colonial struggle.
The government of the colonies had another feature in common besides the principle of trade monopoly, for the tendency in all States was to reproduce in their outlying parts their own constitu tional system. This was less marked in the case of Spain than in that of France or England ; but while the Spanish king ruled the Indies, as he did Spain, as part of a medley of dominions which had little uniformity of government, yet in many details he fol lowed Spanish procedure. France introduced into Canada the sys tem of legislation by royal edict registered in local parlements and the reliance on intendants for maintaining local government; while the English colonies possessed legislative assemblies which reproduced the spirit and the forms of Stuart parliaments.
Alone among the colonizing powers Britain carried forward some of her colonial traditions to the new age. The early years of the i9th century saw the expansion of Canada and the growth of new colonies in Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. The great emigration of the middle years of the century, and the in creasing demand of industrial England for food-stuffs and raw materials transformed these colonies into great dominions who could support a quasi:national status. At the same time trading interests led to the expansion of control in tropical and semi tropical regions and the establishment of new "crown colonies" under the administration of the Colonial Office. International rivalry re-appeared in the last quarter of the i9th century. French colonization on the south side of the Mediterranean and inland penetration from the west coast led to the growth of French con trol over a large part of North Africa, while Spain and Italy later extended their interests in the same region. At the end of the century Germany started her colonial period. The partition of Africa followed, with its welter of delimiting treaties and its multiplication of the types of colony, protected areas, and spheres of influence. The struggle for Pacific islands and trading posts in China accompanied this process, and the United States appeared as a colonizing power. The World War brought some readjust ment in the distribution of colonies, and added the new class of "mandated territories" to the existing types.
The developments of the last 5o years seem to be leading to a new limitation of the word "colony," at least in Britain. The great dominions have acquired most of the characteristics of inde pendent States and have to a great extent abandoned the use of the term "colony" as applicable to themselves. It is being restricted, therefore, in general use to those regions to which rights of self-government have not yet been granted. (See also BRITISH EMPIRE ; AFRICA ; MANDATE.) (L. M. P.) COLOPHON, an ancient city of Ionia, situated inland about 15 m. N. of Ephesus. Its port was at Notium or New Colophon. The site, now called Tracha, lies near Diermendere, 5 m. S. of Develikeui. Excavations, commenced during 1922, were inter rupted by the Turkish reconquest of Asia Minor. Colophon was a very flourishing city in the great period of Ionia. It was the mother-city of Smyrna; it was ruled by a timocracy (oligarchy of wealth) which provided a famous troop of cavalry. It was famous for its luxury, imitated from the Lydians. It claimed to have produced Homer, but its greatest genuine literary names were Xenophanes and Mimnermus. The first shock to its prosperity was the sack by Gyges of Lydia in 665 B.C. It declined in favour of Notium until in 287 Lysimachus transferred a part of the population to his new city at Ephesus.
Notium contained the important shrine of the Clarian Apollo.