Colonization, or colonisation, constitutes large-scale population movements wherein migrants maintain strong links with their, or their ancestors', former country – by such links, gain advantage over other inhabitants of the territory. When colonization takes place under the protection of colonial structures, it may be termed settler colonialism. This often involves the settlers dispossessing indigenous inhabitants, or instituting legal and other structures which disadvantage them. Colonization can be defined as a process of establishing foreign control over target territories or peoples for the purpose of cultivation, often by establishing colonies and possibly by settling them. In colonies established by Western European countries in the Americas, Australia, and New Zealand, settlers (supplemented by Central European, Eastern European, Asian, and African people) eventually formed a large majority of the population after assimilating, warring with, or driving away indigenous peoples. Elsewhere Western European settlers formed minority groups, often dominating the non-Western European majority. During the European colonization of Australia, New Zealand, and other places in Oceania, explorers, and colonists often regarded the landmasses as terra nullius ("empty land" in Latin). Owing to the absence of Western farming techniques, Europeans deemed the land unaltered by mankind and therefore treated it as uninhabited, despite the presence of indigenous populations. In the 19th century, laws and ideas such as Mexico's General Colonization Law and the United States' manifest destiny doctrine encouraged further colonization of the Americas, already begun in the 15th century. Despite countless declarations and referendums from the United Nations on the independence of colonial countries and peoples, implemented since 1946, there are in the world still over 60 colonies – sometimes designated territories – including Puerto Rico, Guam, and Bermuda. Lexicology The term colonization is derived from the Latin words ("to cultivate, to till"), ("a landed estate", "a farm") and ("a tiller of the soil", "a farmer"), then by extension "to inhabit". Someone who engages in colonization, i.e. the agent noun, is referred to as a colonizer, while the person who gets colonized, i.e. the object of the agent noun or absolutive, is referred to as a colonizee, colonisee or the colonised. Pre-modern colonizations Classical period In ancient times, maritime nations such as the city-states of Greece and Phoenicia often established colonies to farm what they believed was uninhabited land. Land suitable for farming was often occupied by migratory 'barbarian tribes' who lived by hunting and gathering. To ancient Greeks and Phoenicians, these lands were