Protest, Conflict and Consolidate: The British Colonial Policy in the North-East Frontier of India

Abstract

The annexation of the Ahom kingdom by the East India Company in the early decades of the nineteenth century has loomed large as an important moment in the establishment of the British Raj in Assam. The Treaty of Yandaboo (1826) gave the British East India Company an opportunity to establish its commercial and political interests in the frontier region of India. Throughout British colonialism, the North East region of India was treated differently from other parts of British State of India. The ability of the colonial administration to maintain peace and order in the frontier areas was crucial to the colonial economy in Assam, which was the hub of tea, petroleum, coal and rubber production. To further strengthen their footing in Assam and other hilly areas in the North Eastern region of India, as well as to safeguard the company’s financial interests, the British administrators had to take a number of strategic changes towards the frontier areas of India, which is the primary purpose of this article. This study also looked at the process of colonial expansion in India’s North Eastern region and its formal integration into the dominions of the British East India Company.