Settler colonialism
During the 1960s, settlement and colonization were seen as separate phenomena from colonialism. Settlement endeavors were seen as taking place in empty areas, downplaying the Indigenous inhabitants. Later on in the 1970s and 1980s, settler colonialism was seen as bringing high living standards in contrast to the failed political systems associated with classical colonialism. Beginning in the mid-1990s, the field of settler colonial studies was established. It is different from Indigenous studies but connected to it. Patrick Wolfe theorized settler colonialism as a structure (rather than an event) focused on the elimination rather than exploitation of the native population. He  distinguished it from classical colonialism. Wolfe also argued that settler colonialism was centered on the control of land and that it continued after the closing of the frontier. His approach was defining for the field, but has been challenged by other scholars on the basis that many situations involve a combination of elimination and exploitation.