precolonial

1. not comparableOf or pertaining to a historical period before colonization.

plural precolonials

1. An inhabitant of an area before colonists first arrived.

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

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

   2 more examples

   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.

   1990, Jan M. Vansina, Paths in the Rainforests

   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.

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