Stages of Colonialism in India

The fundamental character of British rule in India did not remain the same through its long history of nearly two centuries. The changing pattern of Britain’s position in the world economy led to changes in the nature of British colonialism. Marxist Historians, especially Rajni Palme Dutt, identified three overlapping stages in the history of imperialist rule in India. He points out that each stage developed out of the conditions of the previous stage and the different modes of colonial exploitation overlapped—old forms of colonial exploitation never entirely ceased but got integrated into new patterns of exploitation. These stages are, however,

marked by distinct dominant features i.e., qualitative changes from one stage to another.