This is a tenfold classification of the former colonial ruler of the country. Following Bernard et al. (2004), we have excluded the British settler colonies (the US, Canada, Australia, Israel and New Zealand), and exclusively focused on 'Western overseas' colonialism. This implies that only Western colonizers (e.g. excluding Japanese colonialism), and only countries located in the non-Western hemisphere 'overseas' (e.g. excluding Ireland \& Malta), have been coded. Each country that has been colonized since 1700 is coded. In cases of several colonial powers, the last one is counted, if it lasted for 10 years or longer. The categories are the following:

1. Never colonized by a Western overseas colonial power
2. Dutch
3. Spanish
4. Italian
5. US
6. British
7. French
8. Portuguese
9. Belgian
10. British-French
11. Australian