It wasn’t.
With rare exception, colonies were unprofitable, meaning more was spent building infrastructure like roads, railways, buildings, etc. than was exported.
And look at places like Singapore and Hong Kong. Both were colonies for a long time and yet they are extremely prosperous.
कस्तूरी कुण्डली बसै, मृग ढूँढै बन माहि
The musk deer (Kasturi Mrig) has the highly fragrant musk (scent) in its own navel, but it is unaware of this and wanders the entire forest searching for the source of the smell.
Holy shit, this is some truly expert level analysis
Made me mega bullish on Brazil 🇧🇷
“Brazil is the only large democracy in the world that is simultaneously a food superpower, a water superpower, an energy superpower, a mineral superpower, and a carbon superpower, with export routes that do not depend on any contested strait or chokepoint”