'Colonial' technology

"[P]rior to, say, 1769 [t]hese islands and the descendants of their first settlers had been almost entirely cut off from the rest of the world- whether people-to-people movements, trade or technologies.... Consistent with the absence of so many technologies and trade here, material living standards were very low.
    "'Colonial' is one those ill-defined words. Sometimes it means lots of permanent settlers from abroad, and sometimes just a period of control and government by a foreign power. In New Zealand, of course, it involved both, although the control by the foreign power was very short-lived. But, as people sometimes point out, even if these islands had never fallen to any foreign power, or if there had been little or no foreign settlement, many of the technologies would still have found their way here.... And that is a good thing."

          ~ Michael Reddell, from his post 'Colonial Constructs'