The tea industry began in India in 1851. Most of the tea gardens were situated in Assam. Since Assam was sparsely populated and the tea plantations were often located on uninhabited hillsides, the bulk of the sorely needed labour had to be imported from other provinces. But to bring thousands of people every year from their far-off homes into strange lands, possessing an unhealthy climate required the provision of financial and other incentives which the tea planters were unwilling to offer. Instead they took recourse to fraud coercion and persuaded the government to pass regressive penal laws. Thus the recruitment of labourers for tea gardens of Assam was carried on by contractor under the provisions of transport of Native Labourers Act (No 111) of 1863 of Bengal as amended in 1865, 1870 and 1873.

Read the passage given above and answer the questions:

The tea industry developed during the ____.

Colonial period

The correct answer is Colonial period.

The passage explicitly states that the tea industry began in India in 1851 and that most of the tea gardens were situated in Assam during the colonial era. This indicates that the industry's development occurred during the colonial period.