In ancient Greece, a body of Athenian citizens in a dependent country holding grants of land awarded by Athens.
Athens used the cleruchy to cripple dependent states; plantations took the best land, and the colonizers formed military garrisons. Salamis , captured in the 6th century BC, may have held the earliest cleruchy. Under the Delian League and the Second Athenian League (5th–4th century BC), the cleruchy was a regular instrument of Athenian imperialism. The financial advantage of being a cleruch encouraged many citizens to leave Athens, relieving population pressures.