Colonial Ideology

A colonial ideology is the internalized belief of ethnic or cultural superiority resulting in a need to dominate and change a group seen as inferior. From the perspective of the colonizer, this might mean believing that their culture is superior and so that they need to change the culture's of others. From the perspective of the colonized, they might then feel inferior and needing to fit an idea of culture presented from the colonizer.

Colonization, historically, was done in service of giving Christianity, commerce, and civilization to nations seen as 'savage' and thus needing it.