Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) was ruled by the British as a crown colony from 1802 until it became independent in 1948. Before the British period, the island had been a colonial possession of, successively, the Portuguese and the Dutch for nearly 300 years. During this long period of colonial rule, Ceylon was used as an important centre on the trade routes to India and the Far East. During the British period, a strong commercial dimension was added through the development of plantations, first of coffee and then of tea and rubber.