Burma had become part of the British Empire during the nineteenth century as an adjunct of British India. The British colonised Burma. it was not until 1885 when they captured the royal capital of Mandalay that Burma as a whole could be declared part of the British Empire. Migrant workers from India and China supplemented the native Burmese population. Although Burma was the wealthiest country in Southeast Asia under British rule, as a colony it was seen very much as a backwater., provided the physical setting for the novel.