self-colonize

verb2

1. •
   To be introduced into an ecosystem through natural processes, as opposed to deliberate introduction by people.

   • Cordgrass will be planted, not left to self-colonize. — 2001
2. •
   To regain power (by indigenous people) after having been under colonial rule by another country, typically with the adoption of some of the culture of the former colonizers.

   • Nazi-era Schlager are thus reappropriated as part of the FRG after 1989 and help to self-colonize the previously alien(ated) nation of Germany for the Germans. — 2010