UNIT-7 COLONIALISM: MEANING, CONTEXT,

FORM OF COLONIALISM

Structure
7.1 Objective
7.2 Introduction
7.3 Meaning of Colonialism
7.4 Context of Colonialism
7.4.1 Definition
7.4.2 Basic Features of Colonialism
7.5 The Colonial State
7.6 Forms of Colonialism
7.7 Colonialism in Different Territories
7.7.1 Africa
7.7.2 Egypt
7.7.3 South-East Asia
7.7.4 India
7.8 Summary
7.9 Exercise
7.10 Reference

7.1 OBJECTIVE

After reading this unit, you will be able to understanding:

 The concept of colonialism
 Objective of the colonial state to colonised different part of the world.
 The different form of colonialism and their goal in the state.

7.2 INTRODUCTION

In the previous Unit, you were familiarized as a modern phenomenon directly related
to capitalism. You also learnt how the process of conquest, expansion and
domination brought wealth and prosperity to the economies of the European
countries. This Unit is a discussion of what this process meant to the economy and
society in the colonies. It will provide a definition of colonialism and prepare a

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typology of colonies (colonies of settlement and of exploitation, inland colonies and
overseas colonies, colonies under direct rule and colonies controlled only indirectly).
It will then go into a discussion of the stages of colonialism and see how these stages
functioned in different colonies.

South Africa, Australia, Canada were colonies of white settlers whereas India and
Indonesia were colonies exploited economically and politically over centuries. There
was a process of colonization which took place through inland expansion (as in
Russia) while there were many cases of overseas colonization as in the case of China.
In this Unit we shall be studying colonies of exploitation.

Similarly colonization could happen both through direct and indirect rule. Direct rule
meant a colonial state as in the case of India; indirect rule meant control over the
politics, economy and society without taking on the onus for ruling the country as
was the case in China. In this sense, colonialism could be both absolute and partial in
terms of political control. Hence, colonialism and semi-colonialism were different in
basics. In the case of a semi colony like China control was over the economy rather
than over the polity. Also, no one imperial power had a monopoly of control as it was
exploited by many powers unlike the case of India, where it was mainly Britain which
retained absolute political control.

Again, neo-colonialism is the continuation of colonialism by non-formal means.

Economic policies were dictated and military might was harnessed by the imperial
power. The US was the foremost neo-colonial power in the later phase.

7.3 MEANING OF COLONIALISM

The first commentators on colonialism were Marx and Engels who wrote on the
colonial domination of Ireland. The first comprehensive critique of colonialism
mainly at economic level came from the early Indian nationalists of the late
nineteenth century-DadabhaiNaoro-ji, MahadevRanade. Romesh Chandra Dutt and
others. The concept of drain of wealth was developed by them to highlight the
transfer of wealth by the East India Company as plunder, home charges or the
expenses incurred by the government and private transfer of capital. Hobson made the
next break in 1902 with the publication of his work, Imperialism. The writings of
Rudolf Hilferding on Finance Capitalism, Rosa Luxemburg's work on capitalist
accumulation and Lenin's Imperialism, The Highest Stage of Capitalism were
important contributions to the understanding of the phenomenon. In the nineteen
twenties and thirties, studies of imperialism in Latin America, Africa, Indonesia, etc.
provided new insights into the phenomenon. The successful liberation movements of
the 1960s and the Cuhan and Algerian revolution led to a plethora of writings on
colonialism. Andre Gunder Frank's major contribution was followed by those of C.
Furtado, Theodore Dos Santosa, Paul Prehisch, Paul Baran, Sarnir Amin,
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lmmanuelWallerstein: ArghiriEmnlanuel and F. Cardoso. According to the first
variant of the dependency school the economic dependence of a colony would remain
even after political freedom as long as colony, which has underdeveloped under
colonialism, remains capitalist. The bourgeoisie: it is believed, is incapable of
undertaking the task of economic development. Dependent economic can become
independent only by undergoing a socialist revolution. This view of the dependency
school is disproved by the example of India where an independent bourgeoisie has
developed capitalism.

The second variant is the world systems school of Immanuel Wallerstein. This has
spoken of a capitalist world economy that is divided into a centre and a periphery.
This differentiation is marked by several features.

1. Core economies which form the centre have high value products while the
periphery has low technology and low .wages.
2. Unequal exchange or export of surplus is a second feature.
3. The core states are strong whereas the peripheral states are weak.
4. A weak indigenous bourgeoisie.
5. A fifth feature is the domination of its economy by foreign capital. The world
system theory introduces the third category of a semi-periphery. Such
countries are distinguished by the greater control of the state in the national
and international market. Economic nationalism is a hallmark of such states.
There is scope of change in the position of the colony within the world
system. Cabral, Franz Fan and Edward Said have discussed the cultural
aspects of colonialism. Bipan Chandra has studied the colonial structure,
colonial modernization, stages of colonialism and the colonial state.

7.4 CONTEXT OF COLONIALISM

There are mainly two approaches to the understanding of colonialism. The successful
liberation movements of the 1960s and the Cuban and Algerian revolutions led to a
plethora of writings on colonialism. Andre Gunder Frank‘s major contribution was
followed by those of C. Furtado, Theodore Dos Santosa, Paul Prebisch, Paul Baran,
Samir Amin, Immanuel Wallerstein, Arghiri Emmanuel and F. Cardoso. According to
the dependency school (Andre Gunder Frank, Samir Amin etc.) a colony would
continue to be economically dependent even after achieving political freedom, as long
as it remains a part of capitalism as the capitalist class was incapable of undertaking
the task of development. Wallerstein‘s world systems approach divided the capitalist
world into the centre, periphery and semi-periphery, between which a relationship of
unequal exchange prevailed. The core economies of the centre produced high value
products and had strong states. The periphery was constrained by low technology and
low wages, the state was weak as was the capitalist class and the economy was
dominated by foreign capital. The countries on the semi-periphery, like India, were
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marked by greater control of the state in the national and international market.
Economic nationalism was the hallmark of such states, which were able to negotiate a
stronger position for themselves in the world system. Cultural aspects of colonialism
were highlighted by Amilcar Cabral, Franz Fanon and Edward Said. Bipan Chandra
analyses colonialism in terms of colonial structure, colonial modernization, stages of
colonialism and the colonial state.

Colonialism is as modern a historical phenomenon as industrial capitalism. It

describes the distinct stage in the modern historical development of the colony that
intervenes between the traditional economy and the modern capitalist economy. It is a
well-structured whole, a distinct social formation in which the basic control of the
economy and society is in the hands of a foreign capitalist class. The form of the
colonial structure varies with the changing conditions of the historical development of
capitalism as a worldwide system.

It is best to look upon Colonialism as a specific structure. What took place during
colonialism was not merely the imposition of foreign political domination on a
traditional economy, as argued by some scholars. Nor was it merely the outcome of a
vast confidence trick that relied on the docility, cooperation or disunity of the
colonized, buttressed by the racial arrogance of their better-armed white governors.
The view that ‗Empires were transnational organizations that were created to
mobilize the resources of the world‘ (Hopkins, 1999) is also incomplete; it focuses on
the metropolis, not on the colony. Neither was a colony a transitional economy which,
given time, would have eventually developed into a full blown capitalist economy. It
is also incorrect that the colony suffered from ―arrested growth‖ because of its pre-
capitalist remnants. Many apologists, for example, Morris D. Morris, portrayed
colonialism as an effort at modernization, economic development and transplantation
of capitalism which could not succeed because of the restricting role of tradition in
the colonies.

Colonial economy was neither pre-capitalist nor capitalist, it was colonial, i.e., a
hybrid creation. Colonialism was distorted capitalism. Integration with the world
economy did not bring capitalism to the colony. The colony did not develop in the
split image of the mother country –it was its other, its opposite, non-developmental
side. Colonialism did not develop social and productive forces, rather, it
underdeveloped them, leading to contradictions and a movement forward to the next
stage.

7.4.1 Definition

Colonialism is the internal disarticulation and external integration of the rural

economy and the realization of the extended reproduction of capital not in the colony
but in the imperialist metropolis.

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Colonialism is a social formation in which different modes of production coexist from
feudalism to petty commodity production to agrarian, industrial and finance
capitalism. Unlike capitalism, where the surplus is appropriated on the basis of the
ownership of the means of production, under colonialism surplus is appropriated by
virtue of control over state power. When one understands colonialism as a social
formation rather than as a mode of production, we are able to see the primary
contradiction as a societal one, rather than in class terms. Thus we have a national
liberation struggle rather than a class struggle against the colonial power. The primary
contradiction in society is the national one, not the class one; the struggle against the
colonial power is political.

7.4.2 Basic Features of Colonialism

One basic feature of colonialism is that under it the colony is integrated into the world
capitalist system in a subordinate position. Colonialism is characterized by unequal
exchange. The exploitative international division of labour meant that the metropolis
produced goods of high value with high technology and colonies produced goods of
low value and productivity with low technology. The colony produced raw materials
while the metropolis produced manufactured goods. The pattern of railway
development in India in the second half of the 19th Century was in keeping with the
interests of British industry. BalGangadharTilak, the Indian nationalist leader,
described this as decorating another‘s wife. The colony was articulated with the world
market but internally disarticulated. Its agricultural sector did not serve its industry
but the metropolitan economy and the world market. The drain of wealth took place
through unrequited exports and state expenditure on armed forces and civil services.
Foreign political domination is the fourth feature of Colonialism. Therefore, unequal
exchange, external integration and internal disarticulation, drain of wealth, and a
foreign political domination may be understood as the four main features of
colonialism.

7.5 THE COLONIAL STATE

The colonial state is integral to the structuring and functioning of the colonial
economy and society. It is the mechanism by which the metropolitan capitalist class
controls and exploits the colony. The colonial state serves the long term interests of
the capitalist class of the mother country as a whole, not of any of its parts. Under
colonialism all the indigenous classes of the colony suffer domination. No class is a
junior partner of colonialism. Thus even the uppermost classes in the colony could
begin to oppose colonialism as it went against their interests. It is useful to remember
that big landlords led the anti-colonial movements of Poland and Egypt. This is a
major difference between colonies and semi-colonies, where there are compradors,
native classes that are part of the ruling class.

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The role of the colonial state was greater than the capitalist one. The state itself was a
major channel of surplus appropriation. The metropolitan ruling class used the
colonial state to control colonial society.

The colonial state guaranteed law and order and its own security from internal and
external dangers. It suppressed indigenous economic forces hostile to colonial
interests. The colonial state actively fostered the identities of caste and community so
as to prevent national unity. The state was actively involved in reproducing
conditions for appropriation of capital, including producing goods and services.
Another important task is the transformation of the social, economic, cultural,
political and legal framework of the colony so as to make it reproductive on an
extended scale. There is an explicit and direct link between the colonial structure and
the colonial state. Thus it is easy to politicize the struggle against colonialism. As the
mechanism of colonial control lies on the surface, it is easy to expose the links with
the industrial bourgeoisie of the home country. The state is visibly controlled from
abroad and the isolation of the colonial people from policy and decision making is
evident.

The colonial state relied on the whole on domination and coercion rather than
leadership and consent. However, it functioned to some extent as a bourgeois state
with rule of law, property relations, bureaucracy and constitutional space within
which colonial discontent was to be contained. We shall discuss this in detail with
reference to India.

7.6 FORMS OF COLONIALISM

All the colonial state had a different objective to reach in Africa, Latin America, East
Asia, and Indian Subcontinent. The objective of colonial state was to exploit the
natural resources of the colonised countries for their own benefit. However, there are
different forms of colonialism such as:

Planter Colonialism:
Plantation was an early method of colonisation where settlers went in order to
establish a permanent or semi-permanent colonial base, for example for planting
tobacco or cotton. Such plantations were also frequently intended to promote Western
culture and Christianity among nearby indigenous peoples, as can be seen in the early
East-Coast plantations in America (such as that at Roanoke). Although the term
"planter" to refer to a settler first appears as early as the 16th-century, the earliest true
colonial plantation is usually agreed to be that of the Plantations of Ireland.
The word "plantation" was applied to the large farms that were the economical basis
of many of the 17th-century American colonies. The peak of the plantation
economy in the Caribbean was in the 18th century, especially for the sugar

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plantations that depended on slave labour. Most of that time Britain prospered as the
top slaving nation in the Atlantic world. More than 2,500,000 slaves were transported
to the Caribbean plantations between 1690 and 1807. Because slave life was so harsh
on these plantations and slaves died without reproducing themselves, a constant
supply of new slaves from Africa was required to maintain the plantation economy
against this "natural decrease". In 1789 the French colony of Saint-Domingue,
producer of 40 percent of the world's sugar, was the most valuable colony on earth.
Slaves outnumbered whites and free people of colour by at least eight to one, but
provided nearly all of the manual labour, and essentially all of it on the plantations.
Slave labour made sugar production profitable. Importing sugar to Great Britain
resulted in a dramatic change in the eating habits of Britons, one of the greatest in
human history. In 1700, Britons used an average of four pounds of sugar a year, but
by 1800 they used an average of 16 pounds a year.

Exploitation colonialism:
Exploitation colonialism is the national economic policy of conquering a country
to exploit its population as labour and its natural resources as raw material. The
practice of exploitation colonialism contrasts with settler colonialism, the policy of
conquering a country to establish a branch of the metropole (motherland). A reason
for which a country might practice exploitation colonialism is the immediate financial
gain produced by the low-cost extraction of raw materials by means of a native
people, usually administered by a colonial government.
The geopolitics of an Imperialist power determine which of these colonial practices it
will follow. In the example of the British Empire, colonists settled mainly in
northern North America and in Australia, where the native populations declined due
to disease and violence in the course of establishing a facsimile society of the
metropole. Whereas the densely populated countries of the British Raj (1858–1947),
in the Indian subcontinent, and the British occupation of Egypt and South Africa, as
well as the island of Barbados, were ruled by a small populace of colonial
administrators (colonial government) that redirected the local economies to
exploitation management to supply the metropole with food, raw materials, and some
finished goods.
Exploitation was often reinforced by colonial European geographers who
implemented theories such as environmental determinism, which suggested warmer
climates produced less civilized people.[1] These theories were among the scholarly
canon that helped legitimize colonial activity and expansion into overseas territories.
Geographers such as Friedrich Ratzel suggested that the survival of empire relied on
its ability to expand its control and influence around the world. By implying a
correlation between colonial expansion and national success, geographers were able
to produce a sense of nationalism within many European nations. Their influence
created a sense of pride that was able to reassure subjects that their nation's activity

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abroad was beneficial to not only them, but that their presence was necessary within
the territories being occupied.
Barbados was claimed for the English in 1625 by Captain John Powell, and by the
1660s the English had come to regard Barbados as being by far and away their most
highly prized possession anywhere in the New World. The island's value to England,
and the enormous wealth of a minority of its English inhabitants, hinged on the
relationship that had been forged during the previous twenty years between sugar and
slavery

Trade Colonialism:
The country with rich natural resources had been colonised by the colonialism.
Because the natural resources had earned lots of capital to their economy. The
colonise state had provided the raw material and the metropole manufacturing guns,
cloths and other goods to the colonial state. Transporting the large amount of raw
material to the colonial country ensured the capital accumulation in the metropole
(Shoemaker, 2015).

Imperial power Colonialism:

Imperialism is a policy or ideology of extending a country's rule over foreign nations,
often by military force or by gaining political and economic control of other
areas. Imperialism has been common throughout recorded history, the earliest
examples dating from the mid-third millennium BC. In recent times (since at least the
1870s), it has often been considered morally reprehensible and prohibited by
international law. As a result, propagandists operating internationally may use the
term to denounce an opponent's foreign policy.
The term can be applied inter alia - to the colonization of the Americas between the
16th and 19th centuries as opposed to New Imperialism (the expansion of Western
Powers and Japan during the late-19th and early-20th centuries). Well-known
examples of imperialism include the American invasion of Vietnam (1950s to 1970s)
and Britain's occupation of India (17th to 20th centuries).

Missionary Colonialism:
Christianity and colonialism are often closely associated with each other
because Catholicism and Protestantism were the state religions of the European
colonial powers and in many ways they acted as the "religious arms" of those
powers. According to Edward Andrews, Christian missionaries were initially
portrayed as "visible saints, exemplars of ideal piety in a sea of persistent savagery".
However, by the time the colonial era drew to a close in the last half of the twentieth
century, missionaries became viewed as "ideological shock troops for colonial
invasion whose zealotry blinded them".

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Postcolonial Colonialism:
Post colonialism is the academic study of the cultural legacy
of colonialism and imperialism, focusing on the human consequences of the control
and exploitation of colonized people and their lands. Post-colonialism is a critical
theory analysis of the history, culture, literature, and discourse of European imperial
power. The name post colonialism is modelled on postmodernism, with which it
shares certain concepts and methods, and may be thought of as a reaction to or
departure from colonialism in the same way postmodernism is a reaction
to modernism. The ambiguous term colonialism may refer either to a system of
government or to an ideology or world view underlying that system in general post
colonialism represents an ideological response to colonialist thought, rather than
simply describing a system that comes after colonialism. The term postcolonial
studies may be preferred for this reason. Post colonialism encompasses a wide variety
of approaches, and theoreticians may not always agree on a common set of
definitions. On a simple level, it may seek through anthropological study to build a
better understanding of colonial life from the point of view of the colonized people,
based on the assumption that the colonial rulers are unreliable narrators.
On a deeper level, post colonialism examines the social and political
power relationships that sustain colonialism and neo-colonialism, including the
social, political and cultural narratives surrounding the colonizer and the colonized.
This approach may overlap with contemporary history and critical theory, and may
also draw example from history, political science, philosophy, sociology,
anthropology and human geography.

7.7 COLONIALISM IN DIFFERENT TERRITORIES

So far you have seen the general pattern of colonial expansion spread over three
stages. In the next two sections we will take up specific case studies of colonies.

7.7.1 Africa
The conquest of Africa took place in the last decades of the nineteenth century. Till as
late as 1880 only 20 per cent of Africa had come under European rule. With the
spread of the Industrial Revolution to other countries of Europe rivalries increased as
did the search for colonies. The emerging industrial powers looked for a place in the
sun. A continent of over 28 million square km was partitioned and occupied by
European powers by a combination of two strategies, treaties and conquest.

Three eras of conquest

The first phase, 1880-1919, was one of conquest and occupation. The colonial system
was consolidated after 1910. The second phase, 1919-35, was that of the
independence movements. The third stage was from 1935 onwards. Within forty five
years the colonial system was uprooted from over 94 per cent of Africa. Colonial rule
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lasted for a hundred years on an average. British territories in Africa consisted of
Nigeria, Gold Coast, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Tanganyika, Nyasaland, Uganda,
North and South Rhodesia and South Africa. Algeria, Morocco, Cameroon, French-
Congo, Tunisia, and Madagascar were some of the main French colonies.

Impact
The impact of colonialism in Africa was tremendous. The self-sufficient African
economies were destroyed, transformed and subordinated by colonial domination.
Class differentiation in African society occurred as a result of the impact of colonial
domination. The links of African countries with each other and with other parts of the
world were disrupted. European powers reduced the economies of Africa to colonial
dependencies through the power of finance capital. The loans for the Suez Canal
enmeshed Egypt in debt.

There are different interpretations of the impact of colonial rule. The imperialist
school of thought would have it that Africans welcomed colonial rule. Social
Darwinism justifies colonialism by arguing that the domination over the weaker races
was the inevitable result of the natural superiority of the European race. Both colonial
rulers and latter day apologists have presented colonial rule as a blessing. It is said
that modern infrastructure, health and education would not have reached the colony
had it not been part of the colonial system. Other scholars, like D.K. Fieldhouse, have
described the effects as ―some good, some bad‖.

The primary motive behind colonialism was of course satisfying imperial interests.
The positive effects of colonialism, if any, were byproducts; they were clearly not
consciously intended. The negative impact was huge and in all spheres, with long
lasting legacies. For example, ethnic conflicts which paralyze many parts of Africa
today are rooted in the arbitrary superimposition of territorial boundaries on an
essentially tribal society.

7.7.2 Egypt
Egypt was under the protection of both France and Britain. She became an agrarian
and raw material appendage of the metropolitan countries. Two stages of colonialism
were merged into one in Egypt.Britain developed Egypt as a supplier of cotton for her
textile industry. By 1914 cotton constituted 43 per cent of agricultural output. It
accounted for 85 per cent of exports in 1913. Being a single crop economy was
disastrous as Egypt became dependent on imports for her essential food supply. The
control of foreigners over cotton was total, from owning or controlling the land it was
grown on, the cotton processing and cotton cleaning industry and the steamships it
was transported in. There was not a single mill in Egypt. Egypt was also a valuable
field of investment of banking capital. Five per cent capital went into industry and
construction, 12.36 into trade and transport and 79 per cent into public debt, mortgage

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and banks. Egypt was enmeshed in indebtedness as a result of exploitation by foreign
powers.

The First World War showed up the exploitation of Egypt fully. Her natural
resources, manpower and economy were harnessed to the war effort. Crops were
seized by the army. The British Treasury took over the gold reserves of the National
Bank of Egypt. Egypt became a British protectorate in 1914.

7.7.3 South-East Asia

Colonialism in South-East Asia lasted five centuries, from the late fifteenth to the mid
twentieth century. Even after the heyday of the spice trade, South-East Asia remained
important as a supplier of basic raw materials like oil, rubber, metals, rice, coffee, tea
and sugar. The impact of colonialism in this region was considerable, even on
countries like Thailand, which did not formally become colonies. Traditional forms of
government disappeared, trading patterns were disrupted and the rich cultural
traditions of these regions were destroyed.

7.7.4 India
India has generally been considered a classic colony. A study of colonialism in India
can tell us a great deal about the functioning of colonialism in general. Let us see
how the different stages of colonialism operated in India.

The monopoly of trade and appropriation of government revenues – were rapidly

fulfilled with the conquest first of Bengal and parts of South India and then the rest of
India. The East India Company now used its political power to acquire monopolistic
control over Indian trade and handicrafts. Indian traders were ruined while weavers
were forced to sell cheap. The company‘s monopoly ruined the weavers. In the next
stage cheap manufactured goods finished them.

The drain of wealth was admitted to by British officials. In the words of the Deputy
Chairman of the Court of Directors, ―Our system acts very much like a sponge,
drawing up all the good things from the banks of the Ganges and squeezing them
down on the banks of the Thames.‖

The colony did not undergo any fundamental changes in this stage. Changes were
made only in military organization and technology and at the top level of revenue
administration. Land revenue could be extracted from the villages without disturbing
the existing systems. In the sphere of ideology too there was respect for traditional
systems in contrast to the denunciation of traditional values in the second stage. The
respect with which Sanskrit was held by British Ideologists like William Jones was in
sharp contrast to Macaulay‘s later dismissal of traditional learning as not being
enough to fill a bookshelf of a good Western library.

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The era of free trade saw India emerge as a market for manufactured goods and a
supplier of raw materials and food grains. Import of Manchester cloth increased in
value from 96 lakh sterling in 1860 to 27 crore sterling in 1900. Traditional weavers
were ruined by this competition. Rather than industrialization, decline of industry or
deindustrialization took place. In the middle Gangetic region, according to historian
A.K. Bagchi, the weight of industry in the livelihood pattern of the people was
reduced by half from 1809-13 to the census year 1901.

Estimates by Sivasubramaniam indicate that in the last half century of British rule per
capita income in India remained almost stagnant. Dadabhai Naoroji calculated per
capita income at Rs.20 per annum. Railway expansion was undertaken and a modern
post and telegraph system was set up. Administration was made more detailed and
comprehensive so that imports could penetrate the villages and raw materials could be
taken out easily. Capitalist commercial relations were to be enforced. The legal
system was to be improved so as to ensure upholding the sanctity of contract. Modern
education was introduced to produce babus to man the new administration.
Westernized habits were expected to increase the demand for British goods.
Transformation of the existing culture and social organization required that the
existing culture be denounced. Orientalism, by depriving people of the power to study
their own languages, was an appropriation of the processes by which people
understand themselves. The new ideology was one of development.
Underdevelopment was not the desired but the inevitable consequence of the
inexorable working of colonialism of trade and of its inner contradictions.

The third stage is rightly known as the era of finance capital. A huge amount of
capital was invested in railways, loans to the Government of India, trade and to a
lesser extent in plantations, coal mining, jute mills, shipping and banking in India.

In this stage, Britain‘s position in the world was constantly challenged by the rivalry
of new imperialist countries. The result was further consolidation of its control over
India. Control had to be strengthened to contend with competition from rival
imperialist powers.

Lord Curzon, Viceroy of India, wrote: Other channels of investment, outside of India,
are gradually being filled up, not merely by British capital, but by capital of all the
wealthproducing countries of the world; and if this be so, then a time must soon come
when the current of British capital, extruded from the banks between which it has
long been content to meander, will want to pour over into fresh channels, and will, by
the law of economic gravitation, find its way into India, to which it should be
additionally attracted by the security of British institutions and British laws.
Reactionary imperialist policies characterized the viceroyalties of Lytton and Curzon.
All talk of self-government ended and the aim of British rule was declared to be
permanent trusteeship over the child people of India.

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7.8 SUMMARY

Colonialism is as modern a historical phenomenon as industrial capitalism. While the

metropolis experiences growth under capitalism the colony undergoes
underdevelopment. Colonialism is more than foreign political domination; it is a
distinct Colonialismsocial formation in which control is in the hands of the
metropolitan ruling class. In short, colonialism is what happened in the colony and
imperialism is what happened in the metropolis.

7.9 EXERCISE

1. Define basic features of colonialism. How is it different from imperialism?

2. What are different approaches to the understanding of colonialism?
3. What were the different historical stages of colonialism? How did it impact
the Indian economy?
4. Can one talk of different types of colonies rather than one single colonialism?

7.10 REFERENCE

Shoemaker, Nancy ―A Typology of Colonialism‖ The news magazine of the

American Historical Association Perspective on History (2015).

Chandra, Bipan, Nationalism and Colonialism in Modern India, Delhi, 1979.

Fieldhouse, D.K., Colonialism, 1870-1945, An Introduction, London, 1981.

Magdoff, Harry, Imperialism: From the Colonial Age to the Present, New York and
London, 1978.

Fieldhouse, D.K., The Colonial Empires: a comparative survey from the eighteenth
century, Macmillan, 1982, Second edition.

UNIT-8 DECOLONIAZATION
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