precolonial

pre- +‎ colonial

precolonial (not comparable)

1. Of or pertaining to a historical period before colonisation.

precolonial (plural precolonials)

1. An inhabitant of an area before colonists first arrived.
   • 1990, Jan M. Vansina, Paths in the Rainforests:

     After 1970 one no longer expected to find Tio whose parents had experienced the precolonial period, except for a few very old persons. Most people now were grandchildren of the precolonials.

   • 2009, Basil A. Reid, Myths and Realities of Caribbean History, page 100:

     However, archaeological evidence also points to the likelihood of “direct jumps” by Saladoid migrants from South America to the northern Caribbean. It is easy to understand why these early precolonials were engaged in island-hopping.

   • 2015, Karlo Basta, John McGarry, Richard Simeon, Territorial Pluralism, page 233:

     The precolonials did not do it, and the moderns ought not to do it.

precolonial m or f (masculine and feminine plural precoloniales)

1. precolonial