Re: Communication and Travel

At 19:14 6/12/98, John Atkinson wrote:
>You wrote:
>
>>There seems to be an assumption that the various powers are the only
>ones >colonising.  What about private firms and groups? Similar I
>
>A private firm that attempted to plant a colony would a)Have it 'taken
>under the protection of' a major power, or b)provide it with the
>firepower to prevent same.

India being a prime example of b) until they screwed things up and the
Crown chose option a).

Most colonization (at least in our world) has been on behalf of
individuals
or corporations that were in it for the money. Once the degree of wealth
available was seen, governments rapidly took over, or at least made
their
presence known. I'm assuming a similar model for space colonization
(assuming free enterprise can even make it in to orbit....)

------------------------------------------------------------------------
------
Jim 'Jiji' Foster / jfoster@kansas.net / Jiji @ AnimeMUCK / TIP #28 /
PPIG #42

"The wisest and best of men, nay, the wisest and best of their actions,
may
be rendered ridiculous by a person whose first object in life is a joke.
"
    - Jane Austen, _Pride & Predjudice_