During the 1800s and the early 1900s, Nepal was under the reign of a highly centralized autocracy, the Rana Dynasty, which acted as a monarchy; their policies resulted in the isolation of Nepal from the external world. Nepal's borders and governance were constantly under turmoil, both internally and externally. Unlike India, the policies helped Nepal retain its national independence from the British colonial rule, but insulated it from modernization and economic development. Thus the nascent Nepali tea industry was adversely affected compared with the nearby Darjeeling tea industry, which thrived under the British colonial rule.