Framing a Historical Landscape: Role of Tea and Railways in the Creation of ‘Colonial Assam’ in the Nineteenth and First Half of the Twentieth Century

The study is an attempt to comprehend the role played by the tea industry and railways in opening up the province of Assam to British India. It tries to understand the contributions of these two European enterprises in creating ‘Colonial Assam’ by ushering in various infrastructural changes and bringing in modern development to the region. These transformations were necessary to fulfil the expanding requirements of the emerging tea industry in the territory. The changes produced significantly impacted in modernising Assam by providing it with a political status along with attaching commercial significance to the province. There were explorations of natural and mineral resources, growth of trade and commerce, rise of industrial class within the region, change in demography and in mode of governance. Thus in the process, the expanse of colonial Assam was curved out.