Settler colonialism is a process by which settlers exercise colonial rule over a land and its indigenous peoples, transforming the land and replacing or assimilating its population with or into the society of the settlers. Assimilation has sometimes been conceptualized in biological terms such as the "breeding of a minority population into a majority," but in other cases, such as in some parts of Latin America, biological mixing of populations was less problematic. Settler colonialism is a form of exogenous (of external origin) domination typically organized or supported by an imperial authority, which maintains a connection or control to the territory through the settlers. As settler colonialism entails the creation of a new society on the conquered territory, it lasts indefinitely unless decolonisation occurs through departure of the settler population or through reforms to colonial structures, settler-indigenous compacts and reconciliation processes. Settler colonial studies have often focused on English-speaking settler colonies in Australia and North America, which are close to the complete, prototypical form of settler colonialism. However, settler colonialism is not restricted to any specific culture; it has been practised by non-Europeans, and among European cultures, as in the case of Ireland.