Summary: In an accepted view, living standards stagnated in India from about 1600 to 1950. Discussing the history of development in South India from pre-colonial times to 1900, this chapter suggests that development trajectories differed by region and ecology. Naturally irrigated areas commercialised early, traded globally and saw an increase in transfers of capital and goods after 1800. Arid areas were buffer zones, housing large military garrisons in the pre-colonial period. Farmers settled in these areas late, and these regions remained poorly developed during colonial rule. Despite investments in railway networks connecting markets across ecological zones, poor land quality remained a persistent barrier to development in large parts of South India.