Squatter

squatter

1. a person who occupies property or land to which he has no legal title

2. (in Australia)

a. (formerly) a person who occupied a tract of land, esp pastoral land, as tenant of the Crown

b. a farmer of sheep or cattle on a large scale

3. (in New Zealand) a 19th-century settler who took up large acreage on a Crown lease

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Squatter 

a farmer who seizes unsettled land without receiving permission to do so. Squatting was widespread in the British colonies of North America and, later, in the USA (until 1862), as well as in Australia and certain other countries. The practice was possible owing to the vast amount of available unsettled land. The practice was an important precondition for the development of rural capitalism following the farm economy line. [23–1491–]