1. A colony represents an area, region, or a country that has been conquered by a foreign power, falling under political control of the foreign power, be it total or partial, and having settlers from the foreign power that control things on the ground. The reason why several countries engaged into colonization of the world was primarily economic. Cheap or free raw materials, cheap labor force, and new market for the manufactured goods where the main reasons for obtaining a colony, as those things led to lot of wealth.
2. India was a country that was one of the most desirable for colonization. The reasons for that were that it was lying between the Far East and the Middle East, it had access on sea on three sides, so it was very easy to transport and trade goods. Also, India was very large, had climate suitable for growing valuable and demanded crops, had lot of natural resources, and enormous cheap labor force. The enormous population of India also offered an enormous market for the manufactured goods of the British.