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History Optional PYQ Master Pack · Model answer

“Colonies are like fruits which cling to the tree only till they ripen.” Comment.

  • UPSC 2006
  • Imperialism and Colonialism

This 18th-century metaphor — attributed to the French statesman-economist Turgot, writing before the American Revolution had even begun — captures a strikingly prescient theory of colonial life-cycles: dependence as a temporary, not permanent, condition.

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What the full answer covers

  • The Mercantilist Logic the Metaphor Challenged
  • The American Revolution as Confirmation
  • The Retreat from Empire and the Free Trade Turn
  • The Metaphor's Limits and Its Later Echo

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