Staple form of agricultural production throughout the entire history of the British Empire was the plantation. From the very beginnings of the empire it was clear that the plantation would provide enough economies of scale to make production of goods viable in all sorts of places around the world. The first wave of plantations were those in the New World geared towards producing Sugar, Tobacco and Cotton. But the system would survive right through to the twentieth century. Coffee in East Africa, Rubber in Malaya or Tea, Indigo and Jute in India were all examples of crops that were farmed into Independence and beyond.