New World is split into various territories which feature numerous settlements within them that your company can claim. Settlements serve as a sort of player hub, where you can craft, buy houses, trade with other players, store items there, and more.

Companies can claim settlements and manage them, allowing them to set taxes, upgrade the fort for possible wars, and activate lifestyle buffs for the residents in the settlement (people who own houses there).  

If a settlement is unclaimed, your company can pay a fee to purchase a settlement. You will have to join both a faction and a company to claim a settlement, so keep that in mind.

If a settlement is already controlled by another company, you will need to declare war and rest the settlement away from them in the game's titular 50v50 combat. You can declare war by gaining enough influence in a territory to put it into "conflict." This is done by completing faction missions within an enemy faction-controlled territory.

Once the region is in conflict, your faction will finally be able to declare war to take control over the territory.

One company in your faction will be the Vanguard, and other companies will be able to sign up to participate in your war for the terroritory. You can increase the odds that your company is the Vanguard by completing a larger percentage of the faction quests to push the region into conflict.

If you win the war, you will be able to claim the settlements in the territory for the aforementioned claim fee.