precolonial

adj

1. (not-comparable)Of or pertaining to a historical period before colonization.

noun

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

   “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.”

   “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.”

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