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Coffee, Railroads, and Reform: British Ceylon 1815–1900 — Fexingo History

Coffee, Railroads, and Reform: British Ceylon 1815–1900 — Fexingo History

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 With the Kandyan Kingdom annexed in 1815, the British faced a new challenge: how to make their colony profitable. This episode traces Ceylon's transformation under colonial rule, from the coffee boom that turned the central highlands into a plantation economy to the construction of the island's first railway. We meet the coffee barons who grew rich on the hillsides, the Tamil labourers brought from South India to work the estates, and the British governors who modernized the colony's infrastructure. The episode covers the rise and fall of coffee cultivation (ruined by leaf disease by the 1880s) and the pivot to tea that would define modern Ceylon. We also discuss the Colebrooke–Cameron reforms of 1833, which centralized administration and introduced English education, creating a new English-educated elite that would eventually challenge colonial rule. The episode ends with the temperance movement and the Buddhist revival, setting the stage for the independence movement that would follow.

#BritishCeylon #CoffeePlantations #ColebrookeCameronReforms #TeaIndustry #CeylonRailway #PlantationEconomy #KandyanHighlands #SriLankanHistory #Colonialism #TamilLabourers #BuddhistRevival #TemperanceMovement #19thCentury #SouthAsia #History #FexingoHistory #CoffeeLeafDisease #EnglishEducation #SriLanka #AncientKingdoms

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