Definition of Colonialism

Colonialism is the establishment, exploitation, maintenance, acquisition, and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a set of unequal relationships between the colonial power and the colony, and often between the colonists and the indigenous population. 

The History of Colonialism

Role of Explorations:
The explorations or the Voyages of Discovery at the end of 15th century, clubbed with the end of Feudalism played an important role in the rise of Colonialism. As early as the 13th century, Marco Polo of Italy discovered China. The profits from trade increased the attraction of the European ports and the merchants made the ports their center of activity. Soon towns developed in coastal areas of the Mediterranean sea and places like Venice & Genoa increased in prosperity. These coastal towns enjoyed freedom from the rural based system of Feudalism. The serfs were free in these towns and thus migration from the villages to the towns gained pace. The society in these coastal towns was based on money and not land. The Kings, who in the Feudal system were dependent on the subordinate lords for military help and despised the powers of the Feudal Lords and the Church, patronized the merchants by funding their voyages. The merchants inturn aided the King so as to escape the feudal controls where merchants enjoyed little social status and political rights.

The monetary profit became the most important reason for explorations, which brought goods that could be sold at home at a much higher margin. E.g. Vasco Da Gama (1498) found the price of pepper in India to be 1/20th of the price in Venice. Spice trade was the most lucrative. By mid 13th century, Venice emerged as the primary trade port for spices. From Venice, the spices were transported to Western and Northern Europe. Venice became extremely prosperous by charging huge tariffs (*recall Renaissance of 14th century began first in Italy). 

Geography played an important role. Without direct access to Middle East, the Europeans were forced to pay high prices charged by Venice. Even the wealthy had trouble paying for spices. The routes to the east were known by the name of Silk Routes. Along with Venice, it was the Byzantine Empire with its capital in Constantinople, which acted as a middle man in this trade with the east. These two lay along the trade routes and had power to choke them if they wanted. In 1453, Ottoman Empire defeated the Byzantine Empire and choked/blockaded the sea routes.

The Europeans had to do something about it and this paved the way for Voyages of Discovery at end of 15th century. Thus, before the 16th century it was Italy, which dominated the trade with rest of the world owing to its geographical location and monopoly on the knowledge of searoutes of commerce. But soon, due to the envy of the prosperous Italian trading cities and the blockade put up by the Ottoman empire, the sailors began journeys with an aim of finding an alternative route to the East. This quest for finding a North West route led to the discovery of Canada by John Cabot of Britain. With the explorations, gradually the geographical map of the world emerged. 

Technical innovations:
Technical innovations played an important role in success of explorers in being able to sail to the new lands. By the end of 15th century, innovations in form of Compass, Astrolabe(it helps in determining the location of ship), the Art of Mapping and development of better ships that could travel longer, improved the explorer’s knowledge of geography of the sea. They were able to develop accurate maps of sea-routes and gain knowledge of weather patterns that enabled them to safely reach the new lands. The period around the end of 15th century thus came to be known as the Age of Discovery. Christopher Columbus, funded by Spain, went out in search of India but landed up in Central America in 1492. He had touched the shores of Haiti but mistook it for India. This is why he called the natives as Indians and the islands as Indies.

In 1498, aided by Portugal, Vasco Da Gama discovered India by traveling from Europe to India by circumventing the Cape of Good Hope (South Africa). These discoveries marked the start of Colonization. The new found lands were rich in mineral resources and many had very good natural harbors which could be developed into ports that could serve as nodal points of trade. The European merchants sought to establish their setup there i.e. they started to form colonies in these new found lands. Thus came into origin, the word, Colonization. The profits from the goods imported from the new found lands of America, Asia and Africa led to a race for exploration. Spain and Portugal were soon joined by the Dutch, France and Britain. 

Colonization :
The colonization of Asia, Africa and America began with three focuses - Gold, Glory and God. While Gold represented the profits from trade, Glory represented the recognition a European power received as a world hegemon. With the flag of the Kingdom came the Missionaries to promote Christianity. 
It is to be noted here that the country which dominated in the realm of sea power was able to benefit the most out of the Colonial era. A larger fleet of merchant ships was a mark of trade volume and spread across external markets while a strong navy could protect them , attack the vessels of the competitors and block the sea-routes of commerce. The country which was able to have friendly harbors along the trade route in form of Ports of call where the ships could refuel and the crew could rest, had an advantage in the trade competition. Thus, Mercantile capitalism went hand in hand with colonialism, with the latter providing a safe zone for the former to prosper. As mentioned earlier, many new commodities entered the trade basket, and products like potatoes, tobacco, maize and spices, which were hitherto unknown in Europe were traded. The colonies served as sources of raw material to feed the European factories. E.g. Sugar plantations setup in America gave a boost to the sugar industry. Similarly, rice, coffee and cotton resources were also exploited.
The Europeans established trading posts in the coastal areas of the new found lands. The policy of Mercantile capitalism involved attacking merchant vessels of other kingdoms, blocking trade routes, setting up colonies, placing trade barriers, monopolizing the trade with the colonies and if unable to colonize, then securing special trading rights with the new found lands so as to have a trade monopoly. The Portuguese had established trade monopoly with Asia after discovery of trade route to India via Cape of Good Hope in 1498 and thus replaced Italian monopoly on trade with the east. Later, the Portuguese were replaced by the Dutch in Indonesia and by the British in India. Afterwards, the military strength and the sea power aided France and Britain to emerge as the major colonial powers.

Impact of Colonialism
On one hand, the European countries saw very rapid increase in trade volume and diversity, while on the other hand, the colonies were ripped off their resources. Europe started importing products like spices, which were new to its market and became very popular. Similar was the case with cotton cloth imported from the east. Spain setup sugar plantations in Central American colonies, while the Portugal put up the plantation system in Brazil. Countries like Holland, which were barren internally made huge profits out of the colonies by providing ships for commerce to Britain and other European countries. On the other hand, the impact of colonialism on the colonies was appalling. South America was colonized by Spain after the Amerigos voyage, which it had funded. The civilization of Aztecs and the Incas were destroyed and their gold and silver plundered. The indigenous Americans were forced to work for the colonists in the mines and farms. The mines of Peru, Bolivia and Mexico were exploited with all the wealth exported out to Spain. Later, the Dutch, the British and the French also came to control parts of America. The objective of Colonialism in Asia was trade profit, while Slave Trade was the main reason in case of Africa. In Africa, colonization began early but was limited to the coastal region because the hindrances placed by the geography limited the expansion of colonial empire to the mainland Africa. 
Slave trade was started by the Portugal as its workers on the plantations were not able to bear the hot and humid climate of Brazil. It hunted down the Black Africans who were physically strong and were used to living in an equatorial climate and brought them to work on plantations. While the Africans worked on the plantations as slaves, the native Americans.worked like serfs on the estates of the colonists. Soon the Slave trade was introduced in North America, West Indies and other parts of America by European powers after colonization. Spain introduced the Slave trade first in Haiti in the Caribbean and then in Florida, Mexico, Chile and other parts of Coastal South America. The Plantation system was mainly put up for production of Sugarcane, tobacco and cotton. The Slave Trade came to be known as the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade and the Triangular Slave Trade as a tripod of America, Africa and Europe was established and the Africans were shipped across the Atlantic to America.
The Slave trade continued for 300 years. Initially at the end of 15th century it were the individual merchants, sailors and pirates who conducted the trade but by the end of 16th century the Slave Trading Companies had taken over. The Black Africans were initially hunted from coastal Africa as the interiors were out of bound but after the explorations of the mainland in the 19th century, the slave hunting extended to whole of Africa. The conditions of journey across Atlantic were inhumane and many Africans died during these journeys due to lack of hygiene and crowding.
The Industrial Revolution, after 1750 , increased the demand for raw materials in England. To increase supply of raw materials from the colonies and with the increasing colonial empire of Britain, the number of Africans traded in the Slave Trade also increased. In the British colony of West Indies nearly 2 million slaves were imported in 100 years. The present demographic profile of America is symptomatic of the extent of slave trade from the 16th to 19th century. 
Slavery was ended by France after the French Revolution in 1789 mainly because the revolution was based on ideas of liberty, equality and fraternity. The British passed the Slavery Abolition Act in 1833 to end slavery in all of its colonies, while the USA banned it after the civil war (1861- 65). The ban on Slavery faced opposition from many quarters. The Dutch settlers of South Africa opposed the ban. Also, the civil war in US was fought between the USA Federal government and the southern states on the issue of slavery. The southern states were opposed to a ban on Slavery and rather desired its extension to the new territories being acquired by USA.

Relation between Colonialism and Mercantile Capitalism
Mercantile Capitalism was the British policy in the 18th century. The idea was that the Government should regulate the economy at home and colonies abroad so as to increase the national power. This amounted to placing trade barriers and monopoly of trade with colonies to British companies, with the aim of having a positive balance of payment. The traders wanted Free Trade Agreements and trade monopolies with countries outside Europe. On opposition from the native chiefs and the rulers, these countries were colonized. 
In 19th century, there was a new development. Due to thinkers like Adam Smith, the policy of Laissez Faire was begun to be implemented. It meant less domination of the State in the economic sphere (as during Mercantile Capitalism) and thus a free market economy. It was a free market economy only in the domestic economy. The whole world was not being converted to a free market (as today, in era of MNCs & Globalization). The Imperial powers had special rights in areas of trade and investment over most of their colonies. Companies from other countries did not enjoy equal privileges in these colonies and the contracts of economic projects were secured for companies belonging to the Imperial country. By end of 19th century Laissez Faire declined. British economist Keynes published The End of Laissez Faire in 1926. It was due to ills of Laissez Faire- like exploitation of workers and non-intervention of government even when there was a famine (1880 famine in India-government did not intervene)- that it was realized that Laissez Faire cannot be followed blindly and the State has to intervene for ensuring the enjoyment of basic human rights.

Difference between Colonialism and Imperialism
Colonialism is part of Imperialism and Imperialism is a natural extension of Colonialism in the age of Industrial revolution. Imperialism has the basic feature of political acquisition of a foreign territory. Thus according to some authors, Militarism (which implies invasion of a territory for its annexation) is a must for Imperialism or is a form of Imperialism (because political acquisition can happen without vanquishing or invading a territory but by using it as a threat). In contrast, Colonialism implies domination of people’s life and culture. The main goal of colonialism is extraction of economic benefits from the colony while Imperialism includes political control. Thus, colonialism may be done by companies who secure special trading privileges and setup trading posts , while Imperialism is done by the state through government diplomacy to acquire territories, protectorates and spheres of influence and to promote industrial trade and investments. Colonialism results in control over life of natives in political, economic, cultural and social spheres. It is more subtle whereas Imperialism is more formal and aggressive.
NCERT uses the term Imperialism as distinct from Colonialism. While the nomenclature followed by other authors treat Colonialism equivalent to Imperialism, what the NCERT refers to as Imperialism is called New Imperialism or Neo-Imperialism. The basic dividing line is the era of Industrial Revolution. The events after the Industrial Revolution in the colonial empire building are termed as New Imperialism.
Now what was new? The New in this New Imperialism, which started after the Industrial Revolution in Europe was the race component. There was also an increase in the degree of every aspect of the Colonial actions. Race signified the economic competition between the European powers to get hands on to as many colonies as possible. It was a race for raw material sources and export markets, both of which would be provided for by the colonies. It was also a race for securing sea-lanes of commerce by either colonizing the ports of call or signing treaties with other nations to provide safe harbors to the merchant vessels. The race component also included a race for naval supremacy and build up of land based military forces.
But why this race phenomenon did not occur in as explicit a form before? The answer lies in important factors like Industrial Revolution, which spread to the rest of Europe, USA and Japan in 19th century; the rise of Nationalism which fueled the national rivalries for quest of economic and military supremacy; and also the decreased geographical space. The last factor is interesting and had important bearing for the world peace. Earlier there was enough territorial space for the European powers to colonize but in the 19th century, except for the interior lands of Africa, nearly the whole world had come under influence of one powerful nation or the other. Thus, now the major powers of the world could only grow at expense of one another. There was brute competition to protect whatever colonies one nation had, and at the same time try to displace the rival colonial power from the other colonies. Here came in the factor of degree. The colonial powers in the New Imperialism had to use greater force to protect their colonial assets and secure own frontiers. This made political control in the colonies much more imperative to ensure an economic control. To secure political control, military was required and thus a peculiar feature of the New Imperialism was the rise of State power. Trading companies like the East India Company were slowly replaced by the their governments.