Page 83 - SST Class 08
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Colonialism and Urban
Change
Colonialism in the countries like Spain, Portugal, respectively. In late 18th century, these places
Britain, Russia, France started from the 15th became as Presidency cities under the British rule.
century to 1914. It occurs when a country or a These cities which were very important right
nation takes control of other lands, regions or from the ancient as well as during the Mughal
territories outside its borders by turning them into period gradually lost their importance.
colonies. Therefore, there was an increase in Simultaneously many towns manufacturing
exploitation. There are different types of colonial- specialised goods declined due to a drop in the
ism and they are as follows : demand for what they produced.
g Settler Colonialism : motivation like Old trading centers and ports could not survive
religious, political or economical believes when the flow of trade moved to the new cen-
formed groups of settlers. ters. Trades and exports via earlier important
g Exploitation Colonialism : usually ports like Surat, Masulipatnam, etc failed dramat-
consist of salves and focus is on the exploi- ically.
tation of labour, resources and population. At the same time, the earlier centers of regional
g Surrogate Colonialism : settlement done power collapsed when local rulers were defeated
by power as all the settlers doesn't belong to by the British and new centers of administration
the same ethnic group. emerged.
g Internal Colonialism : notion of uneven As a result of all these happenings more and
structural power between areas of a state. more people began to shift from these places
Therefore, these are the types of colonies in which used to be important cities in the past.
colonialism. Colonialisation started in 1498 in This process is often described as de-
India. India was under the rule of British for 200 urbanisation.
years. Hence, India was exploited, especially for GROWTH OF NEW TOWNS
spices and other agricultural products. In the late eighteenth century; Calcutta, Bombay
and Madras rose in importance as they became
DE-URBANISATION
the Presidency cities. These three cities became
Deurbanisation is the physical decline of an
the centres of the British power in different
urban population resulting from economic or
regions of India. Around the same time, many
social change. Deurbanisation is commonly
smaller cities declined in importance. Many
defined differently from sub-urbanisation.
towns which were important manufacturing
For the sake of convenience of trade the British centres declined in importance because of a drop
developed new centers of trade like Calcutta in the demand for what they produced. When
(Kolkata), Madras (Chennai) and Bombay the flow of trade moved to new centre, old
(Mumbai) on Eastern and Western coastal areas trading centres and ports could not survive.
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