 Given the difficulty of consistently distinguishing between the two terms, this entry will use colonialism as a broad concept that refers to the project of European political domination that began in the early sixteenth century. While the national liberation movements of the post-World War II era brought formal colonization to an end in many parts of the world, Indigenous peoples still live in settler-colonial states, and there are on-going struggles to reclaim control of traditional territories.  Post-colonialism will be used to describe the political and theoretical struggles of societies that experienced the transition from political dependence to sovereignty. This entry will use imperialism as a broad term that refers to economic, military, political domination that is achieved without significant permanent European settlement.