This document discusses the historical development of underdevelopment in colonial and post-colonial societies. It argues that:
1) Colonial powers established hierarchical systems of metropoles (capital cities) and satellites (surrounding rural areas and towns) to extract resources from colonies and direct economic surplus to the colonial center.
2) These metropolis-satellite relationships structured the entire economic, political, and social systems of colonies, and persisted after independence. National capital cities became metropoles over surrounding satellites.
3) Rather than being isolated or traditional, all parts of colonial and post-colonial societies were thoroughly penetrated and shaped by their incorporation into the capitalist world system through extraction of surplus by metropoles at various levels