INDIA:
The British East India Company came to India as traders in spices, a very important commodity in Europe back then as it was used to preserve meat. Apart from that, they primarily traded in silk, cotton, indigo dye, tea and opium. They landed in the Indian subcontinent on August 24, 1608, at the port of Surat.
AFRICA:
The British wanted to control South Africa because it was one of the trade routes to India. However, when gold and diamonds were discovered in the 1860s-1880s their interest in the region increased. ... British rule made their country increasingly a country of industry and business.