Category:Colony

Col"o*ny, n.; pl. Colonies. Etym: [L. colonia, fr. colonus farmer, fr. colere to cultivate, dwell: cf. F. colonie. Cf. Culture.]

1. A company of people transplanted from their mother country to a remote province or country, and remaining subject to the jurisdiction of the parent state; as, the British colonies in America. The first settlers of New England were the best of Englishmen, well educated, devout Christians, and zealous lovers of liberty. There was never a colony formed of better materials. Ames.

2. The district or country colonized; a settlement.

3. A company of persons from the same country sojourning in a foreign city or land; as, the American colony in Paris.

4. (Nat. Hist.)

Defn: A number of animals or plants living or growing together, beyond their usual range.

- ---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary

Colony - The city of Philippi was a Roman colony (Acts 16:12), i.e., a military settlement of Roman soldiers and citizens, planted there to keep in subjection a newly-conquered district. A colony was Rome in miniature, under Roman municipal law, but governed by military officers (praetors and lictors), not by proconsuls. It had an independent internal government, the jus Italicum; i.e., the privileges of Italian citizens.