The Duchy of Courland, with a population of only 200,000 and itself a vassal of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth at this time, is the smallest nation to colonize the Americas with a colony on the island of Tobago from 1654 to 1659, and intermittently from 1660 to 1689.

Couronian colonization refers to the colonization efforts of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia, a vassal of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Small but wealthy, it takes a modest part in the European domination and settlement of West Africa and the Caribbean.