In Colonization, much of your population is made of Free Colonists. However, when placed in a settlement, these colonists, as well as indentured servants, converted natives, and others, can take on any role available. That is, colonists can take up one of the various professions in a settlement, from harvesting raw resources in nearby tiles to working in one of the many buildings that convert raw materials to finished goods. Thus, there is a lot of flexibility in assigning roles to your colonists: one minute they can be focusing on mining silver from nearby mountains, and another minute they can distill sugar into rum.
With the right resources, these ordinary colonists can be turned into soldiers or dragoons to fight off the enemy, be it Europe or natives. If a settlement has enough Guns resources (and potentially Horses, too, if you want to form a dragoon), you can convert previously-hard working colonists into soldiers in an instant. To change the profession of any colonist while in the settlement screen, simply double-click the worker’s icon and choose from the list of options. Alternatively, you can drag-and-drop the colonist from one area of the screen to another.
Note: There are 30 professions available, all listed below, and the table is accurate as of Colonization v1.00.
| Image | Profession | Role |
| Resource Professions | ||
 | Cotton Planter | Can harvest cotton from surrounding tiles |
 | Farmer | Can harvest food from surrounding land tiles |
 | Fisherman | Can collect food from surrounding sea tiles |
 | Fur Trapper | Can collect furs from surrounding tiles |
 | Lumberjack | Can collect lumber from surrounding tiles |
 | Ore Miner | Can mine ore from surrounding tiles |
 | Silver Miner | Can mine silver from surrounding tiles |
 | Sugar Planter | Can collect sugar from surrounding tiles |
 | Tobacco Planter | Can harvest tobacco from surrounding tiles |
| Building Professions | ||
 | Blacksmith | Can produce tools from ore |
 | Carpenter | Can produce hammers from lumber |
 | Cigar Maker | Can make cigars from tobacco |
 | Coat Maker | Can make coats from furs |
 | Distiller | Can make rum from sugar |
 | Gunsmith | Can produce guns from tools |
 | Preacher | Can produce crosses |
 | Rancher | Can produce horses from food |
 | Statesman | Can produce liberty bells |
 | Student | Can produce education points |
 | Weaver | Can produce cloth from cotton |
| Unit Professions | ||
 | Armed Brave | Available only to natives Native can become an armed soldier |
 | Armed Mounted Brave | Available only to natives Native can become an armed soldier on horseback |
 | Brave | Available only to natives Serves as the default land unit |
 | Colonist | An unspecialized, defense-only unit |
 | Dragoon | Serves as the default mounted unit |
 | Missionary | Can establish missions in native settlements |
 | Mounted Brave | Available only to natives Native can become a mounted unit |
 | Pioneer | Can improve the surrounding lands |
 | Scout | Can explore surrounding lands on horseback |
 | Soldier | Serves as the default footsoldier |