The difference between colonialism and economic imperialism is that in colonialism there is a territorial control exercised by the colonialist country on the colonial territories, in order to exploit the resources of the colonies.
In the case of economic imperialism, there is no direct relationship between the imperial power and the subsidiary countries, but there is a certain power executed by the powers that keeps subsidiary countries into the economical orbit of the economic powers, in a situation of commercial dependence.
Particularly, Edward Said distinguishes the difference between imperialism and colonialism by stating; "imperialism involved 'the practice, the theory and the attitudes of a dominating metropolitan center ruling a distant territory', while colonialism refers to the 'implanting of settlements on a distant territory.'
