decolonization

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)The freeing of a colony etc from dependent status by granting it independence.
2. (countable, uncountable)The reverse of colonization, i.e. granting back autonomy to a group.

   “In full decolonization mode, Greenlanders also have abandoned the Danish names that once gave some of us a precarious toehold on their island's geography. Nuuk, for example, appeared on children's geography board games until recently as Godthab.”

   “But what does decolonisation have to do with place names? Place names are the meeting points of history and geography that shape part of our identities.”

3. (countable, uncountable)The elimination of a colony of pathogens from the body of a patient, especially antibiotic-resistant pathogens.