I've been studying ancient Greek history and found their constant colonizing of Italy, Sicily, Ionia, North Africa, Scythia, etc. to be fascinating. Did other ancient cultures also do this, or was this unique to the Greeks. Also, what was the cause behind this extensive colonization? Thanks!
A very well known colony-starting peoples were the Phoenicians, whose colonies eventually turned into the state of Carthage (which roughly means new-city in their language) after their capital was sacked by Nebuchadnezzar. There is some evidence that Egypt in the middle kingdom also established some kind of proto-settlements in the near east, south of Israel, to protect themselves from hostile invades that could be thought of as colonies.