To test claims that postcolonial civil violence is a common legacy of colonialism, we create a dataset on the colonial heritage of 160 countries and explore whether a history of colonialism is related to indicators of inter-communal conflict, political rebellion and civil war in the years 1960-1999. The analysis provides evidence against sweeping claims that colonialism is a universal cause of civil violence but finds that some forms of colonialism increase the risk of some forms of civil violence. Specifically, the findings support claims that inter-communal violence is a common legacy of colonialism- especially of British colonialism and colonialism by minor colonial powers -but suggest that a history of colonialism has only a limited impact on political rebellion and civil war. In September 2006, two ethnic associations publicly attacked the French dictionary Le Petit Robert and demanded that it recall all 170,000 copies of its 2007 edition. Their criticism was over one of its long-standing definitions of colonization -to enhance the value of, exploit territory that has been colonized.1 The groups claimed that colonialism was a destructive system of control that hundreds of millions of non-Europeans suffered under, that the dictionary's definition justifies such horror, and that Le Petit Robert therefore disseminates a racist colonial discourse. If academic experts were chosen to resolve this conflict, Le Petit Robert would probably lose because most scholars hold strong and very negative moral sentiments about colonialism. Such anti-colonialism is so powerful that an entire discipline -postcolonial studies -has been organized in an attempt to highlight all of the negative effects colonialism had on colonized peoples and all the ways that it continues to subjugate, exploit and demoralize individuals living in former colonies. A popular handbook that reviews basic concepts of postcolonial studies, for example, defines colonialism as cultural exploitation and gives several examples to show the multiple and nefarious ways in which it occurs (Ashcroft, Griffiths and Tiffin 2000:45). In one section, the authors equate colonialism with violent sexual domination, claiming that the idea of colonialism itself is grounded in a sexualized discourse of rape, penetration and impregnation. (40) So much for Le Petit Robert's definition of colonialism as value enhancement!