A colony, also referred to as an overseas possession (a term used by imperial powers in the nineteenth century) or non-self-governing territory (a term used by the United Nations), is essentially a region governed by an external authority. From 1874 to 1957, for example, the present-day nation of Ghana was known as the Gold Coast, a colony ruled by the British Empire. On the African continent, colonies were established through settlement, commercial enterprises, treaties, or sometimes invasion. To varying degrees, all of these methods of colonization affected styles of dress on the African continent.

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This is an abstract of an article from the Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion. The full article is available in the Berg Fashion Library.

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