The Jewel in the Crown

India was without doubt the most important of all of the colonies within the British Empire. With a population of many millions it included Bangladesh and Pakistan as well as Burma and Ceylon, which is modern day Sri Lanka. These countries were very important to the Empire not just because of the raw materials they extracted but also the luxury goods they produced, most importantly tea and coffee as well as spices to make our food taste better. It was the British who first cleared land and planted tea bushes in Assam, where tea is still grown to this day. This meant that China was no longer the only major tea grower in the world; with India the British now had its own tea plantations. Roads were built throughout the country as well as a railway network, which was to enable armies to be moved around quickly and easily, just in case of another mutiny, like the one of eighteen fifty seven, which had lead to the East India Company losing control of India and the British government taking over the administration.