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In Champaran, most of the arable land was owned by Englishmen who had engaged Indian tenants to cultivate their lands. The landlords of the area compelled all tenants to plant fifteen per cent of their holdings with indigo, the chief commercial crop, and surrender the entire indigo harvest as rent. This was done by long-term contract. When the landlords learned that Germany had developed synthetic indigo, they forced the sharecroppers to enter into an agreement to rake in compensation to free them of their fifteen per cent arrangement. Many peasants signed it willingly. Those who resisted, engaged lawyers but the landlords hired thugs to beat them into accepting their terms. Meanwhile, the information about synthetic indigo reached the illiterate peasants, and they demanded their money back.