How to say "colonization" in Japanese

• 植民しょくみんCommon
  suru verb, intransitive verb, no-adjectiveThe word for colonization proper: a state establishing and peopling colonies in another territory. Choose it when the emphasis falls on colonial expansion rather than on opening up undeveloped land.
  彼かれらはミズーリ州みずーりしゅうに植民しょくみんする計画けいかくを立たてている。↗

  They are planning to settle Missouri.
• 拓殖たくしょくCommon
  noun, suru verb, intransitive verbRenders colonization too, but it also means development and settlement, so it suits contexts where colonizing is essentially opening up and settling new land — a pioneering, developmental undertaking.

Use 植民 for colonization as establishing colonies over another territory; use 拓殖 when the sense shades into settling and developing land, which its additional meanings of development and settlement reflect.

Usage comparisons are AI-assisted and cross-checked by multiple models; for study reference only

• 植民しょくみんcolonization
• 拓殖たくしょくcolonization
• 屯田とんでんcolonization
• 植民地化しょくみんちかcolonization