Write about the Indian trade, colonialism and the global system during the nineteenth century?

In the 19th century, there was mass scale colonization. European nations colonized Asian and American countries and also exploited them to expand their trade and economy.

Cotton and indigo were the main crops that were grown in India for trade. Indian cotton was of finer and superior quality than cotton produced in Britain or other colonies and it gained popularity. Eventually, a high tariff was imposed on finished cotton products from India and the cotton products from England were exported to India at high rates. This led to the decline of Indian cotton trade to as low as 3% by the end of the 19th century.

On the other hand, Indians exported raw material and the export increased from 5% to 35%, rapidly.

Indian farmers were forced to grow opium and indigo in their lands. The Britishers exported tea from China and forced them to import opium in exchange.

So, we can see that Indian market acted as a trade surplus for the Britishers to balance their economy and it acted as a global system where the colonized nations were exploited and their natural resources were drained to meet the need of the colonizers.