<P> Colonialism is a relationship between an indigenous (or forcibly imported) majority and a minority of foreign invaders . The fundamental decisions affecting the lives of the colonized people are made and implemented by the colonial rulers in pursuit of interests that are often defined in a distant metropolis . Rejecting cultural compromises with the colonized population, the colonizers are convinced of their own superiority and their ordained mandate to rule . </P> <P> Historians often distinguish between various overlapping forms of colonialism: </P> <Ul> <Li> Settler colonialism involves large - scale immigration, often motivated by religious, political, or economic reasons . It pursues to replace the original population . </Li> <Li> Exploitation colonialism involves fewer colonists and focuses on the exploitation of natural resources or population as labour, typically to the benefit of the metropole . This category includes trading posts as well as larger colonies where colonists would constitute much of the political and economic administration . Prior to the end of the slave trade and widespread abolition, when indigenous labour was unavailable, slaves were often imported to the Americas, first by the Portuguese Empire, and later by the Spanish, Dutch, French and British . </Li> <Li> Surrogate colonialism involves a settlement project supported by a colonial power, in which most of the settlers do not come from same ethnic group as the ruling power . </Li> <Li> Internal colonialism is a notion of uneven structural power between areas of a state . The source of exploitation comes from within the state . </Li> </Ul> <Li> Settler colonialism involves large - scale immigration, often motivated by religious, political, or economic reasons . It pursues to replace the original population . </Li>

What are the main reasons and goals of colonialism
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