The forest management and state-building efforts in the late 19th century are analysed by examining the failure of a state-run rubber plantation in Charduar, Assam. This plantation needs to be understood as a means of establishing state control along an ecologically, topographically and politically volatile frontier. It emphasises the importance of analysing colonialism as a complex and spatially diverse phenomenon rather than a monolithic juggernaut. The failure of the rubber experiment symbolised the failure of colonial authority in the tribal hills.
