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precolonial

precolonial

1 5.6
From the time before foreign countries took control of a region
  • adjective
  • /ˌpriːkəˈloʊniəl/
: precolonial
  • Politics and state in precolonial Africa were lineage-based.
  • precolonial society
  • precolonial African
  • precolonial period

Examples

  • I will focus on the Kenyan and Zairian cases as representative of eastern and central African precolonial societies.

    Academic text (1995)
  • Kirango Bamana trace their descent from the precolonial Segou state.

    Academic text (1994)
  • In addition, they maintained much of the precolonial political organization.

    Academic text (1995)
  • Such a theory is possible only by bringing precolonial societies back to the center of the debate.

    Academic text (1995)
  • The "time of the ancestors" is a period that Western history equates with the precolonial era.

    Academic text (1999)
  • Thus, both authors, contrary to most analyses of contemporary Africa, take seriously African precolonial societies.

    Academic text (1995)
  • Ekpongkara's parent organization, Kekpan, in precolonial times constituted a powerful court.

    Academic text (2008)
  • Probably the exhibition's single most significant contribution is the uncelebrated sculpture from precolonial figurative traditions, many of which continue today.

    Academic text (1994)
  • Nationalist myths about great precolonial empires created a sense of oneness that had been absent in colonial states.

    Academic text (1993)
  • Many precolonial societies had rich traditions and cultural practices that shaped their identities.

Surface Forms

precolonial positive

Morphology

precolonial = colonial (transparent) = pre + colony + al

The prefix 'pre-' combines straightforwardly with 'colonial' to mean 'before the colonial period or before colonization'.

Etymology

Precolonial comes from the prefix pre- meaning 'before' and colonial, from colony meaning 'a place controlled by another country'. So precolonial describes people, art, or times that existed before colonization.