page_title: Eastern Bengal and Assam
section_title: Economy
hierarchical_section_title: Eastern Bengal and Assam / Economy
caption_attribution_description: English: This engraving shows the different stages in the process of making tea. Tea bushes are carefully pruned and plucked to maintain the correct density, encouraging new leaf-bearing shots. Here you can see the two drying stages of the process, drying stops the fermentation process and removes the last moisture so the tea will not spoil during transit.
context_page_description: Eastern Bengal and Assam was an administrative subdivision of the British India between 1905 and 1912. Headquartered in the city of Dacca, it covered territories in what are now Bangladesh, Northeast India and Northern West Bengal.
context_section_description: Eastern Bengal and Assam possessed one of the most fertile lands in the British Empire. The eastern Bengal delta was the rice basket of the Indian subcontinent. It produced 80% of the world's jute, and dominated supply in the once thriving global jute trade. The Assam and Sylhet Valleys were home to the largest tea plantations in the world, and became famous for producing high-quality Assam tea. The province was also a center of the petroleum industry, due to crude oil production in Assam. The Port of Chittagong began to flourish in international trade, and was connected to its hinterland by the Assam Bengal Railway. Shipbuilding was a major activity in coastal Bengal, and catered to the British naval and merchant fleets. Dyeing industries were set up in several districts, particularly in Pabna and Dhaka.
caption: An illustration of tea cultivation in Eastern Bengal and Assam
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