Colonialism

Colonialism is the practice and system by which a metropolitan power establishes and maintains colonies in foreign territories, exercising political sovereignty, economic extraction, and cultural hegemony over indigenous populations. While often conflated with imperialism, colonialism specifically involves territorial settlement or direct administrative control, as distinct from mere economic influence. In the Indian context, British colonialism (1757–1947) restructured land tenure (Permanent Settlement, 1793), deindustrialised textile production, and created a racialised administrative framework analysed extensively in the UPSC GS1 modern history syllabus.