Ken Good noted some years ago that settler colonialism in Africa had received little systematic consideration. In a review of the trajectories of the settler colonies of Algeria, Kenya, Rhodesia, and South Africa, he argued that while each of these territories had their own distinct histories they were driven by similar dynamics of development and class. Above all, settler societies represented an exception to the general colonial rule, in that they had shown a marked ‘capacity for independent capitalist development’, and because of that had evolved ‘relatively advanced class formations’.

Furthermore, because the settler states had developed a strong taste for political autonomy, they had assumed an ambivalent position in relation to imperialism and had proved resistant to decolonization. The dominated (African/ black) social classes in settler societies were therefore forced towards growth and militant action, ultimately rendering settler colonialism dangerous to imperialism, and eventually breaking the external supports that were vital to the colon state. In the years that followed Good's analysis, the tempo of armed and popular struggle against the settler regimes of Rhodesia, South West Africa, and South Africa culminated in the political triumph of the NLMs and the respective transitions to independence and/or democracy.

The migration of whites from Europe to far-flung countries was one of the defining aspects of the historical expansion of Empire, its impact upon indigenous peoples brutal where not genocidal. Africa was originally viewed by European powers as climatically hostile and was not regarded as a potential world area for European settlement.