decolonization

Definition

The freeing of a colony etc from dependent status by granting it independence.

Etymology

From de- + colonization.

Example Sentences

• "In full decolonization mode, Greenlanders also have abandoned the Danish names that once gave some of us a precarious toehold on their island's geography. Nuuk, for example, appeared on children's geography board games until recently as Godthab."
• "But what does decolonisation have to do with place names? Place names are the meeting points of history and geography that shape part of our identities."