Colony: This is a word of Latin origin, that has been applied somewhat misleadingly to
the Greek settlements that differed from the later Roman ones, in that the Grecian ones
were in no way subject to the city whence they originated, and indeed competed vigorously
with it. The Greek name was "apoikia" ="away home". There seems to be no English cognate of it.
For more information see:http://www.arches.uga.edu/~iyengar/OEDcolony.html

I encountered ususal use of word "reluctant". "The better soil, though still reluctant,
was keenly and laboriously cultivated..............."

My dictionary as third meaning gives:3 [Rare] struggling against; resisting; opposing
But even that doesn't really fit.