Colonialism
Topic: Europeans in India and the Rise of Company Rule · NCERT: Class 8, Ch 4 "The Colonial Era in India"
Meaning
Colonialism is when one country takes control of another region, sets up settlements there, and imposes its own political, economic and cultural systems on it. It is very old and can be traced back to the great empires of the 1st millennium BCE. However, the "Age of Colonialism" usually means Europe's expansion from the 15th century onward. In this period Spain, Portugal, Britain, France and the Netherlands spread across Africa, Asia, the Americas, Australia and the Pacific, often by massacring or enslaving local people. There were four main motives: competition between European powers, economic gain (including plain plunder), converting people to Christianity and, to a lesser degree, scientific curiosity. Colonialism declined quickly after World War II, through decolonisation, which means colonies winning their freedom.
Example
India came under British rule step by step. It started with trading posts of the English East India Company at Surat, Madras, Bombay and Calcutta in the 1600s. It ended with India becoming the "jewel in the Crown" of the British Empire.
Don't confuse with
- Civilising mission: this was the colonisers' claim that they were spreading "progress". Colonialism is the actual control and exploitation that the claim covered up.