colonys

Colonies, the standard plural of colony, refer to several related concepts in politics and biology. In political terms, a colony is a territory under the political control of a distant sovereign state, often settled by colonists from that state. The colonizing power usually exercises governance and exploitation of resources, and colonial relationships have long-lasting impacts on language, law, and demographics in colonized regions. The nonstandard spelling colonys appears in informal writing, but it is not accepted in modern English.

Historically, European powers established colonies across the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Oceania from the 15th through the 20th century. Colonization often involved settlement, economic extraction, and cultural imposition, and it contributed to global trade networks as well as conflicts. Decolonization movements after World War II led to independence for many colonies, reshaping international borders and governance.

In biology, a colony can refer to a group of organisms living closely together or derived from a single common ancestor. For example, bacterial colonies grow on solid media as visually distinct patches; social insects such as ants, bees, and termites form colonies with division of labor among castes. In medicine or microbiology, colony counts on agar plates are used to estimate population size.