In politics and history, a colony is a territory under the immediate political control of a state, distinct from the home territory of the sovereign. For colonies in antiquity, city-states would often found their own colonies. Some colonies were historically countries, while others were territories without definite statehood from their inception. Colonialism is the establishment, exploitation, maintenance, acquisition, and expansion of colony in one territory by a political power 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. Colonial India is the part of the Indian subcontinent which was under the control of European colonial powers, through trade and conquest. The British Raj began with the idea of the Presidencies as the centres of government. Structured thematically and chronologically, this informative book is a useful resource for students of history, political science, sociology and South Asian studies.