A Perspective on the Beginning of the Tea Plantations on the Northern Bank of Brahmaputra

Tea plantations were a major industry which played an important role in the development of Assam in particular and North East India in general. The northern bank of the River Brahmaputra which came under the Colonial rule lately also witnessed the same. The paper presents the history of the beginnings of the tea plantations in this region and the difficulties it faced in the early stage of its development. The tea industry was the pioneer of development in the districts of North Lakhimpur and Darrang. It has seen the promising start, which was followed by a period of economic depression which affected the tea plantation economy in the decades of 1860’s. However, by the end of the nineteenth century the industry again rose to its glory and regains the signs of prosperity