A considerable amount of literature is available on the political and social history of Kerala during the period from 1800 AD to 1947 AD. However, there are no studies on the economic history of Travancore and Malabar during this period. This is a serious gap in the history of Kerala. This book addresses this issue .
The Malabar region remained as backward due to two sets of factors viz. (1) the unfavourable and extractive policies pursued by the colonial power in the spheres of agriculture, industry, infrastructure. trade and commerce: and (2) the caste system, and the social practices arising out of the system. that prevailed in Malabar. The colonial land and agricultural policies had led to the pauperisation of tenants and actual cultivators. However, the colonial rulers had taken steps to start railway lines, develop ports, construct roads. canals, and promote school education.
Compared to Malabar, the Travancore region witnessed more economic changes due to the British superintendence of Travancore administration. It resulted in the introduction of a number of new plantation crops, modern factory-type industries, the construction of roads, the development of inland water transport, the introduction of railways, electricity generation and motor transport, and the introduction of the Western system of education. However, vast areas of forest land were given to colonial companies by the Travancore government either as grants or at nominal rates for the cultivation of plantation crops such as coffee, tea, and rubber due to colonial pressure.
The book is lucid and reader-friendly, and can be used as a basic reading for all those who wish to study the economic history of Kerala.