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[Eagle of Fire]

Hmm, but on second thought you must admit, that you can move all colons except 3 to your own cities. For example when you conquer a town with 15 colons, you can move 12 out.

This is historically accurate. For example: Relocation of the Acadians.

However, even with deportation, it was impossible to simply fully abandon a city. The whole point in conquering cities was to claim the land around it, and there always been a need for a minimal amount of people to maintain the infrastructure in the city when it reached a critical point in size.