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Upper California was a province of Mexico from the 1820s to the 1840s (sometimes unified with Lower California). Near the end of this period it was overrun with Anglo-American men that lived apart from Spanish-speaking society. Thomas O. Larkin was the U.S. consul and President's secret agent in the capital, Monterey. When the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed, California became a U.S. territory. It then experienced a Gold Rush and in 1850 it became one of the United States.

Was the settlement by the United States of California considered a "colonization" by historians?

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    Probably. As always, it will depend on how you define the your terms, but using the Oxford dictionary definition of "colonize" then the answer would seem to be yes. And that colonisation followed earlier Spanish and Russian efforts to colonise California.
    – sempaiscuba
    Dec 17 '17 at 11:51
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    Tough to resolve; if you don't define what "colonize" means, the question might be opinion related; if you do, the question is probably trivial. I'm going to abstain and hope that someone provides an answer with the definition and a justification for applying that definition.
    – MCW ♦
    Dec 17 '17 at 15:34
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    I reworded the question in a way that can be answered objectively and vote to reopen.
    – Tom Au
    Dec 18 '17 at 0:54

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