Colony and empire, colonialism and imperialism, are often treated as synonyms. This can be acceptable for many purposes. But there may be also good reasons to distinguish between them. This article considers in detail one important attempt in that direction by the classicist Moses Finley. It argues that there is considerable strength in that approach, putting the stress as it does on the distinctiveness of the settler community. It is also valuable in suggesting that early-modern Western colonialism marked a new departure in an older history of imperialism, thus once again suggesting the need for a conceptual separation of the two. But the article concludes that ultimately more may be lost than gained by insisting on the distinction. In particular, it inhibits wide-ranging comparisons between ancient and modern, and Western and non-Western, empires, which can often suggest illuminating connections and parallels. The field of empire studies gains by drawing on the rich store of examples provided by the whole history of empire, from the earliest times to now. Western colonialism is part of that story; to separate it out is to impoverish the field.

殖民地和帝国，殖民主义和帝国主义常常被当作同义词。对于许多目的，这是可以接受的。但是也许也有很好的理由来区分它们。本文详细考虑了古典主义者摩西·芬利（Moses Finley）在该方向上的一项重要尝试。它辩称，这种方法具有相当大的优势，它像定居者社区的独特性一样给人以压力。值得指出的是，早期的现代西方殖民主义标志着帝国主义历史的新发展，因此再次表明需要将两者概念上分开。但文章得出的结论是，坚持这种区分最终可能会损失的比实际损失的多。尤其是，它禁止在古代与现代，西方与非西方帝国之间进行广泛的比较，这些比较通常可以暗示启发性的联系和相似之处。帝国主义领域的研究是通过从早期到现在利用整个帝国历史提供的大量实例来获得的。西方殖民主义就是这个故事的一部分。把它分开就是使这个领域变得贫穷。