Seizing Colonies
If you’re at war, you can send an army to an enemy
colony and either burn it or capture it.
If you decide to burn the Colony, it will cease
to exist, and the province goes back to being unoccupied
and available for Colonization again
by any power. This option is one that may seem
best if you want to rebuild your own Colony from
scratch, with your own Culture and Religion, or if
you just want to cause trouble.
If you want to save yourself the trouble of
rebuilding, or if you don’t want to take a chance
on being first on the scene with a Colonist, you
can seize the Colony for yourself. It will still have
the other country’s Culture and Religion, if yours
and theirs don’t match... But it’s yours!
Provinces outside of Europe, North Africa
and the Middle East with a population under
5,000 will eventually become assimilated to your
primary Culture, even if they had a different Culture
when you conquered them. As you add to
the population of a Colony below city size, they
will also adopt your State Religion. All this, of
course, will make these provinces more to your
benefit financially.