A fundamental question remains unanswered by theorists of civil war—do colonial institutions play a role in creating conditions for insurgency? In contrast to the scholarship on civil wars which tend to focus on proximate causes of rebellion, this book proposes that many insurgencies around the world -- in Colombia, Sri Lanka, Burma, Nigeria -- have origins in deep historical processes. Bringing history back into the study of civil wars can provide a deeper understanding of the roots of some insurgencies. It can also explain the persistence of conflict which theories of civil war that focus on more proximate determinants cannot. I outline the case of the Maoist insurgency in India, which exemplifies how different forms of colonial indirect rule and indirect revenue collection created land and ethnic inequalities that persisted and created the conditions for rebellion. Analysis of this case has lessons for the long-term legacies of historical institutions for insurgency and allows us to address endogeneity and explain recurrence of conflict. I outline several contributions of my theory to the literature on colonial legacies and political violence in South Asia, and describe the mixed methods nested analysis research design in the book.