The British Indian Empire or British Raj (rāj in Hindi: राज, Urdu: , pronounced: , lit. "reign"
Major provinces
At the turn of the 20th century, British India consisted of eight provinces that were administered either by a Governor or a Lieutenant-Governor. The following table lists their areas and populations (but does not include those of the dependent Native States) circa 1907: !! Area (in thousands of square miles)!! Population (in millions of inhabitants) !! Chief Administrative Officer
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Burma ||align="center" | 170 || align="center" | 9 || align="center" | Lieutenant-Governor
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Bengal (including present-day
Bangladesh,
West Bengal,
Bihar and
Orissa)|| align="center" | 151 || align="center" | 75 || align="center" | Lieutenant-Governor
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|align="center" |
Madras || align="center" | 142 || align="center" | 38 || align="center" | Governor-in-Council
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|align="center" |
Bombay || align="center" | 123 || align="center" | 19 || align="center" | Governor-in-Council
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United Provinces (present-day
Uttar Pradesh and
Uttarakhand) || align="center" | 107 || align="center" | 48 || align="center" | Lieutenant-Governor
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Central Provinces (including Berar) || align="center" | 104 || align="center" | 13 || align="center" | Chief Commissioner
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|align="center" |
Punjab || align="center" | 97 || align="center" | 20 || align="center" | Lieutenant-Governor
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|align="center" |
Assam || align="center" | 49 || align="center" | 6 || align="center" | Chief Commissioner
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During the partition of Bengal (1905–1911), a new province, Assam and East Bengal was created as a Lieutenant-Governorship. In 1911, East Bengal was reunited with Bengal, and the new provinces in the east became: Assam, Bengal, Bihar and Orissa.
Minor provinces
In addition, there were a few minor provinces that were administered by a Chief Commissioner: The Act envisaged a system of "double government" in which the Council ideally served both as a check on excesses in imperial policy-making and as a body of up-to-date expertise on India. However, the Secretary of State also had special emergency powers that allowed him to make unilateral decisions, and, in reality, the Council's expertise was sometimes outdated. The Governor-General in the capital, Calcutta, and the Governor in a subordinate presidency (
Madras or
Bombay) was each required to consult his advisory council; executive orders in Calcutta, for example, were issued in the name of "Governor-General-in-Council" (
i.e. the Governor-General with the advice of the Council). The Company's system of "double government" had its critics, since, from the time of the system's inception, there had been intermittent feuding between the Governor-General and his Council; still, the Act of 1858 made no major changes in governance. However, in the years immediately thereafter, which were also the years of post-rebellion reconstruction, the Viceroy
Lord Canning found the collective decision-making of the Council to be too time-consuming for the pressing tasks ahead. He therefore requested the "portfolio system" of an
Executive Council in which the business of each government department (the "portfolio") was assigned to and became the responsibility of a single Council member. Routine departmental decisions were made exclusively by the member; however, important decisions required the consent of the Governor-General and, in the absence of such consent, required discussion by the entire Executive Council. This innovation in Indian governance was promulgated in the
Indian Councils Act of 1861.
If the Government of India needed to enact new laws, the Councils Act allowed for a Legislative Council—an expansion of the Executive Council by up to twelve additional members, each appointed to a two-year term—with half the members consisting of British officials of the government (termed official) and allowed to vote, and the other half, comprising Indians and domiciled Britons in India (termed non-official) and serving only in an advisory capacity. They too were rewarded in the new British Raj by being officially recognised in the treaties each state now signed with the Crown. At the same time, it was felt that the peasants, for whose benefit the large land-reforms of the United Provinces had been undertaken, had shown disloyalty, by, in many cases, fighting for their former landlords against the British. Consequently, no more land reforms were implemented for the next 90 years: Bengal and Bihar were to remain the realms of large land holdings (unlike the Punjab and Uttar Pradesh).
Lastly, the British felt disenchanted with Indian reaction to social change. Until the rebellion, they had enthusiastically pushed through social reform, like the ban on suttee by Lord William Bentinck. It was now felt that traditions and customs in India were too strong and too rigid to be changed easily; consequently, no more British social interventions were made, especially in matters dealing with religion, even when the British felt very strongly about the issue (as in the instance of the remarriage of Hindu child widows).
Famines, epidemics, and public health
21 Mar 1862 || 1858 reorganisation of
British Indian Army (contemporaneously and hereafter
Indian Army) Construction begins (1860):
University of Bombay,
University of Madras, and
University of Calcutta Indian Penal Code passed into law in 1860. Upper
Doab famine of 1860–61
Indian Councils Act 1861 Establishment of
Archaeological Survey of India in 1861
James Wilson, financial member of
Council of India reorganises
customs, imposes
income tax, creates
paper currency. Indian Police Act of 1861, creation of
Imperial Police later known as
Indian Police Service.
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Lord Elgin || 21 Mar 1862|| Dies prematurely in
Dharamsala
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John Lawrence || 12 Jan 186412 Jan 1869 ||
Anglo-Bhutan Duar War (1864–1865)
Orissa famine of 1866 Rajputana famine of 1869 Creation of Department of Irrigation. Creation of
Imperial Forestry Service in 1867 (now
Indian Forest Service). Possesion of
Nicobar Islands in 1869.
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Lord Mayo || 12 Jan 18698 Feb 1872 || Creation of Department of Agriculture (now
Ministry of Agriculture) Major extension of railways, roads, and canals Indian Councils Act of 1870 Creation of
Andaman and Nicobar Islands as a
Chief Commissionership (1872). Assassination of Lord Mayo in the Andamans.
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Lord Northbrook || 3 May 187212 Apr 1876|| Mortalities in
Bihar famine of 1873–74 prevented by importation of rice from Burma. Gaikwad of Baroda dethroned for misgovernment; dominions continued to a child ruler. Indian Councils Act of 1874 Visit of the
Prince of Wales, future
Edward VII in 1875–76.
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Lord Lytton || 12 Apr 18768 Jun 1880 ||
Baluchistan established as a
Chief Commissionership
Queen Victoria (in absentia) proclaimed
Empress of India at
Delhi Durbar of 1877.
Great Famine of 1876–78: 5.25 million dead; reduced relief offered at expense of
Rs. 8
crore. Creation of Famine Commission of 1878–80 under Sir
Richard Strachey. Indian Forest Act of 1878
Second Anglo-Afghan War.
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Lord Ripon || 8 Jun 188013 Dec 1884 || End of
Second Anglo-Afghan War. Repeal of Vernacular Press Act of 1878. Compromise on the
Ilbert Bill. Local Government Acts extend self-government from towns to country.
University of Punjab established in
Lahore in 1882 Famine Code promulgated in 1883 by the Government of India. Creation of the
Education Commission. Creation of indigenous schools, especially for Muslims. Repeal of import duties on cotton and of most tariffs. Railway extension.
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Lord Dufferin || 13 Dec 188410 Dec 1888 || Passage of Bengal Tenancy Bill
Third Anglo-Burmese War. Joint Anglo-Russian Boundary Commission appointed for the Afghan frontier. Russian attack on Afghans at
Panjdeh (1885).
The Great Game in full play. Report of Public Services Commission of 1886-87, creation of Imperial Civil Service (later
Indian Civil Service, and today
Indian Administrative Service)
University of Allahabad established in 1887 Queen Victoria's Jubilee, 1887.
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Lord Lansdowne || 10 Dec 188811 Oct 1894 || Strengthening of NW Frontier defence. Creation of
Imperial Service Troops consisting of regiments contributed by the
princely states.
Gilgit Agency leased in 1899 British Parliament passes Indian Councils Act of 1892 opening the
Imperial Legislative Council to Indians. Revolution in
princely state of
Manipur and subsequent reinstatement of ruler. High point of
The Great Game. Establishment of the
Durand Line between British India and
Afghanistan, Railways, roads, and irrigation works begun in
Burma. Border between Burma and
Siam finalised in 1893. Fall of the Rupee, resulting from the steady depreciation of silver currency worldwide (1873–93). Indian Prisons Act of 1894
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Lord Elgin || 11 Oct 18946 Jan 1899||Reorganization of
Indian Army (from Presidency System to the four Commands). Pamir agreement Russia, 1895 The Chitral Campaign (1895), the
Tirah Campaign (1896–97)
Indian famine of 1896–97 beginning in
Bundelkhand. Bubonic plague in Bombay (1896), Bubonic plague in Calcutta (1898); riots in wake of plague prevention measures. Establishment of Provincial Legislative Councils in
Burma and Punjab; the former a new Lieutenant Governorship.
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Lord Curzon || 6 Jan 189918 Nov 1905|| Creation of the
North West Frontier Province (now Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa) under a
Chief Commissioner (1901).
Indian famine of 1899–1900. Return of the
bubonic plague, 1 million deaths Financial Reform Act of 1899; Gold Reserve Fund created for India. Punjab Land Alienation Act Inauguration of
Department (now Ministry) of Commerce and Industry. Death of
Queen Victoria (1901); dedication of the
Victoria Memorial Hall,
Calcutta as a national gallery of Indian antiquities, art, and history.
Coronation Durbar in Delhi (1903);
Edward VII (in absentia) proclaimed
Emperor of India.
Francis Younghusband's
British expedition to Tibet (1903–04)
North-Western Provinces (previously
Ceded and Conquered Provinces) and
Oudh renamed
United Provinces in 1904 Reorganization of Indian Universities Act (1904). Systemization of preservation and restoration of ancient monuments by
Archaeological Survey of India with Indian Ancient Monument Preservation Act. Inauguration of agricultural banking with Cooperative Credit Societies Act of 1904
Partition of Bengal (1905); new province of
East Bengal and Assam under a Lieutenant-Governor.
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Lord Minto || 18 Nov 190523 Nov 1910 || Creation of the
Railway Board Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907 Government of India Act of 1909 (also Minto-Morley Reforms) Appointment of Indian Factories Commission in 1909. Establishment of
Department of Education in 1910 (now Ministry of Education)
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Lord Hardinge || 23 Nov 19104 Apr 1916 || Visit of
King George V and
Queen Mary in 1911: commemoration as
Emperor and Empress of India at last
Delhi Durbar King George V announces creation of new city of New Delhi to replace
Calcutta as capital of India. Indian High Courts Act of 1911 Indian Factories Act of 1911 Construction of New Delhi, 1912-1929 World War I,
Indian Army in:
Western Front, Belgium, 1914;
German East Africa (
Battle of Tanga, 1914);
Mesopotamian Campaign (
Battle of Ctesiphon, 1915;
Siege of Kut, 1915-16);
Battle of Galliopoli, 1915-16 Passage of
Defence of India Act 1915
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Lord Chelmsford || 4 Apr 19162 Apr 1921 ||
Indian Army in:
Mesopotamian Campaign (
Fall of Baghdad, 1917);
Sinai and Palestine Campaign (
Battle of Megiddo, 1918) Passage of
Rowlatt Act, 1919 Government of India Act of 1919 (also Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms)
Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, 1919 Third Anglo-Afghan War, 1919 University of Rangoon established in 1920.
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Lord Reading || 2 Apr 19213 Apr 1926 ||
University of Delhi established in 1922. Indian Workers Compensation Act of 1923
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Lord Irwin || 3 Apr 192618 Apr 1931 || Indian Trade Unions Act of 1926,
Indian Forest Act, 1927 Appointment of Royal Commission of Indian Labour, 1929
Indian Constitutional Round Table Conferences, London, 1930-32,
Gandhi-Irwin Pact, 1931.
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Lord Willingdon || 18 Apr 193118 Apr 1936 || New Delhi inaugurated as capital of India, 1931. Indian Workmen's Compensation Act of 1933 Indian Factories Act of 1934
Royal Indian Air Force created in 1932.
Indian Military Academy established in 1932.
Government of India Act of 1935 Creation of
Reserve Bank of India
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Lord Linlithgow || 18 Apr 19361 Oct 1943 || Indian Payment of Wages Act of 1936
Burma administered independently after 1937 with creation of new cabinet position
Secretary of State for India and Burma Indian Provincial Elections of 1937
Cripps' mission to India, 1942.
Indian Army in
Middle East Theatre of World War II (
East African campaign, 1940,
Anglo-Iraqi War, 1941,
Syria-Lebanon campaign, 1941,
Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran, 1941
Indian Army in
North African campaign (
Operation Compass,
Operation Crusader,
First Battle of El Alamein,
Second Battle of El Alamein)
Indian Army in
Battle of Hong Kong,
Battle of Malaya,
Battle of Singapore Burma Campaign of World War II begins in 1942.
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Lord Wavell || 1 Oct 194321 Feb 1947 ||
Indian Army becomes, at 2.5 million men, the largest all-volunteer force in history.
World War II: Burma Campaign, 1943-45 (
Battle of Kohima,
Battle of Imphal)
Bengal famine of 1943 Indian Army in
Italian campaign (
Battle of Monte Cassino)
British Labour Party wins
UK General Election of 1945 with
Clement Attlee as prime minister.
1946 Cabinet Mission to India Indian Elections of 1946.
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Lord Mountbatten || 21 Feb 194715 Aug 1947 ||
Indian Independence Act 1947 (10 and 11 Geo VI, c. 30) of the British Parliament enacted on 18 July 1947.
Radcliffe Award, August 1947
Partition of India India Office changed to Burma Office, and
Secretary of State for India and Burma to
Secretary of State for Burma.
|}
History
Company rule in India
Although the British East India Company had administered its factory areas in India—beginning with Surat early in the 17th century, and including by the century's end, Fort William near Calcutta, Fort St George in Madras and the Bombay Castle—its victory in the Battle of Plassey in 1757 marked the real beginning of the Company rule in India. The victory was consolidated in 1764 at the Battle of Buxar (in Bihar), when the defeated Mughal emperor, Shah Alam II, granted the Company the Diwani ("right to collect land-revenue") in Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa. The Company soon expanded its territories around its bases in Bombay and Madras: the Anglo-Mysore Wars (1766–1799) and the Anglo-Maratha Wars (1772–1818) gave it control over most of India south of the Narmada River.
Earlier, in 1773, the British Parliament granted regulatory control over East India Company to the British government and established the post of Governor-General of India, with Warren Hastings as the first incumbent. The annexed regions included the North Western Provinces (comprising Rohilkhand, Gorakhpur, and the Doab) (1801), Delhi (1803), and Sindh (1843). Punjab, Northwest Frontier Province, and Kashmir, were annexed after the Anglo-Sikh Wars in 1849; however, Kashmir was immediately sold under the Treaty of Amritsar (1850) to the Dogra Dynasty of Jammu, and thereby became a princely state. In 1854 Berar was annexed, and the state of Oudh two years later.
The East India Company also signed treaties with various Afghan rulers and with Ranjit Singh of Lahore to counterbalance the Russian support of Persia's plans in western Afghanistan. In 1839, the Company's effort to more actively support Shah Shuja as Amir in Afghanistan, led to the First Afghan War (1839–42) and resulted in a military disaster for it. As the British expanded their territory in India, so did Russia in Central Asia with the taking of Bukhara and Samarkand in 1863 and 1868 respectively, and thereby setting the stage for The Great Game of Central Asia. With increased British power in India, supervision of Indian affairs by the British Crown and Parliament increased as well; by the 1820s, British nationals could transact business under the protection of the Crown in the three Company presidencies. In the Charter Act of 1833, the British parliament revoked the Company's trade license altogether, making the Company a part of British governance, although the administration of British India remained the province of Company officers. It was hoped that knowledge of a fixed government demand would encourage the zamindars to increase both their average outcrop and the land under cultivation, since they would be able to retain the profits from the increased output; in addition, the land itself would become a marketable form of property that could be purchased, sold, or mortgaged. However, in spite of the appeal of the ryotwari system's abstract principles, class hierarchies in southern Indian villages had not entirely disappeared—for example village headmen continued to hold sway—and peasant cultivators came to experience revenue demands they could not meet. After the Company lost its trading rights, it became the single most important source of government revenue, roughly half of overall revenue in the middle of the 19th century. Since, in many regions, the land tax assessment could be revised, and since it was generally computed at a high level, it created lasting resentment that later came to a head in the rebellion that rocked much of North India in 1857. More tellingly, the latter half of the 19th century also saw an increase in the number of large-scale famines in India. Although famines were not new to the subcontinent, these were particularly severe, with tens of millions dying, and with many critics, both British and Indian, laying the blame at the doorsteps of the lumbering colonial administrations. The first train in India had become operational on 22 December 1851 for localised hauling of canal construction material in Roorkee. In 1900 the government took over the GIPR network, while the company continued to manage it. With the arrival of the First World War, the railways were used to transport troops and foodgrains to the port city of Bombay and Karachi en route to UK, Mesopotamia and East Africa. By the end of the First World War, the railways had suffered immensely and were in a poor state. It was to lead, among other things, to India, under its own name, becoming a of the League of Nations in 1920 and participating, under the name, "Les Indes Anglaises" (the British Indies), in the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp.
In 1916, the moderate nationalists demonstrated new strength with the signing of the Lucknow Pact and the founding of the Home Rule leagues. With the realisation, after the disaster in the Mesopotamian campaign, that the war would likely last longer, the new Viceroy, Lord Chelmsford, cautioned that the Government of India needed to be more responsive to Indian opinion. Towards the end of the year, after discussions with the government in London, he suggested that the British demonstrate their good faith in light of the Indian war role through a number of public actions. The actions he suggested included awards of titles and honours to princes, granting of commissions in the army to Indians, and removal of the much-reviled cotton excise duty. Most importantly, he suggested an announcement of Britain's future plans for India and an indication of some concrete steps. After more discussion, in August 1917, the new Liberal Secretary of State for India, Edwin Montagu, announced the British aim of “increasing association of Indians in every branch of the administration, and the gradual development of self-governing institutions, with a view to the progressive realisation of responsible government in India as an integral part of the British Empire.” Although the plan envisioned limited self-government at first only in the provinces – with India emphatically within the British Empire – it represented the first British proposal for any form of representative government in a non-white colony.
Earlier, at the onset of World War I, the reassignment of most of the British army in India to Europe and Mesopotamia had led the previous Viceroy, Lord Harding, to worry about the “risks involved in denuding India of troops.” Revolutionary violence had already been a concern in British India, and outlines of collaboration with Germany were being identified by British intelligence. Consequently in 1915, the Government of India passed the Defence of India Act to strengthen its powers during what it saw was a time of increased vulnerability. This act allowed it to intern politically dangerous dissidents without due process and added to the power it already had – under the 1910 Press Act – to imprison journalists without trial and to censor the press. However, since the Government of India wanted to check the revolutionary problem, and since its reform plan was devised during a time when extremist violence had ebbed as a result of increased governmental control, it also began to consider how some of its war-time powers could be extended into peace time.
, left, the Secretary of State for India, whose report led to the Government of India Act of 1919, also known as the Montford Reforms or the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms]]
Consequently in 1917, even as Edwin Montagu announced the new constitutional reforms, a sedition committee chaired by a British judge, Mr. S. A. T. Rowlatt, was tasked with investigating revolutionary conspiracies and the German and Bolshevik links to the violence in India, To combat subversive acts in these regions, the committee recommended that the government use emergency powers akin to its war-time authority. These powers included the ability to try cases of sedition by a panel of three judges and without juries, exaction of securities from suspects, governmental overseeing of residences of suspects, and the power for provincial governments to arrest and detain suspects in short-term detention facilities and without trial.
With the end of World War I, there was also a change in the economic climate. By year’s end 1919, 1.5 million Indians had served in the armed services in either combatant or non-combatant roles, and India had provided £146 million in revenue for the war. Returning war veterans, especially in the Punjab, created a growing unemployment crisis This situation was made only worse by the failure of the 1918-19 monsoon and by profiteering and speculation. The global influenza epidemic and the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 added to the general jitters; the former among the population already experiencing economic woes, and the latter among government officials, fearing a similar revolution in India. In the ensuing discussion and vote in the Imperial Legislative Council, all Indian members voiced opposition to the bills. The Government of India was nevertheless able to use its "official majority" to ensure passage of the bills early in 1919. However, what it passed, in deference to the Indian opposition, was a lesser version of the first bill, which now allowed extrajudicial powers, but for a period of exactly three years and for the prosecution solely of “anarchical and revolutionary movements”, dropping entirely the second bill involving modification of the Indian Penal Code. Even so, when it was passed the new Rowlatt Act aroused widespread indignation throughout India, which culminated in the infamous Jallianwala Bagh massacre and brought Mohandas Gandhi to the forefront of the nationalist movement. The new Act (with the help of the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms which lay the ground work for the act) enlarged both the provincial and Imperial legislative councils and repealed the Government of India’s recourse to the “official majority” in unfavorable votes. Although departments like defence, foreign affairs, criminal law, communications and income tax were retained by the Viceroy and the central government in New Delhi, other departments like public health, education, land-revenue and local self-government were transferred to the provinces. The provinces themselves were now to be administered under a new dyarchical system, whereby some areas like education, agriculture, infrastructure development, and local self-government became the preserve of Indian ministers and legislatures, and ultimately the Indian electorates, while others like irrigation, land-revenue, police, prisons, and control of media remained within the purview of the British governor and his executive council. The new Act also made it easier for Indians to be admitted into the civil service and the army officer corps.
to the right of Mohandas Gandhi at the Second Round Table Conference in London, October 1931]]
A greater number of Indians were now enfranchised, although, for voting at the national level, they constituted only 10% of the total adult male population, many of whom were still illiterate. In the provincial legislatures, the British continued to exercise some control by setting aside seats for special interests they considered cooperative or useful. In particular, rural candidates, generally sympathetic to British rule and less confrontational, were assigned more seats than their urban counterparts. Seats were also reserved for non-Brahmins, landowners, businessmen, and college graduates. The principal of “communal representation”, an integral part of the Minto-Morley reforms, and more recently of the Congress-Muslim League Lucknow Pact, was reaffirmed, with seats being reserved for Muslims, Sikhs, Indian Christians, Anglo-Indians, and domiciled Europeans, in both provincial and Imperial legislative councils. According to the census of 1931, the number of Europeans was 168,134. Its scope was, however, unsatisfactory to the Indian political leadership, famously expressed by Annie Beasant as something "unworthy of England to offer and India to accept". At this time, it was also decided to separate Burma from British India in 1937, to form a separate crown colony. The future Constitution of independent India would owe a great deal to the text of this act.
World War II
surrenders to an
Indian Jawan during the successful Allied campaign of
Operation Crusader]]
With the outbreak of World War II in 1939, the viceroy,
Lord Linlithgow, declared war on India’s behalf without consulting Indian leaders, leading the Congress provincial ministries to resign in protest. The Muslim League, in contrast, supported Britain in the war effort; however, it now took the view that Muslims would be unfairly treated in an independent India dominated by the Congress.
The British government—through its Cripps' mission—attempted to secure Indian nationalists' cooperation in the war effort in exchange for independence afterwards; however, the negotiations between them and the Congress broke down. Gandhi, subsequently, launched the “Quit India” movement in August 1942, demanding the immediate withdrawal of the British from India or face nationwide civil disobedience. Along with all other Congress leaders, Gandhi was immediately imprisoned, and the country erupted in violent demonstrations led by students and later by peasant political groups, especially in Eastern United Provinces, Bihar, and western Bengal. The large war-time British Army presence in India led to most of the movement being crushed in a little more than six weeks; In other parts of India, the movement was less spontaneous and the protest less intensive, however it lasted sporadically into the summer of 1943.
Also in early 1946, new elections were called in India in which the Congress won electoral victories in eight of the eleven provinces. The negotiations between the Congress and the Muslim League, however, stumbled over the issue of the partition. Muhammad Ali Jinnah proclaimed 16 August 1946, Direct Action Day, with the stated goal of highlighting, peacefully, the demand for a Muslim homeland in British India. The following day Hindu-Muslim riots broke out in Calcutta and quickly spread throughout India. Although the Government of India and the Congress were both shaken by the course of events, in September a Congress-led interim government was installed, with Jawaharlal Nehru as united India’s prime minister.
Later that year, the Labour government in Britain, its exchequer exhausted by the recently concluded World War II, and conscious that it had neither the mandate at home, the international support, nor the reliability of native forces for continuing to control an increasingly restless India, decided to end British rule of India, and in early 1947 Britain announced its intention of transferring power no later than June 1948.
As independence approached, the violence between Hindus and Muslims in the provinces of Punjab and Bengal continued unabated. With the British army unprepared for the potential for increased violence, the new viceroy, Louis Mountbatten, advanced the date for the transfer of power, allowing less than six months for a mutually agreed plan for independence. In June 1947, the nationalist leaders, including Nehru and Abul Kalam Azad on behalf of the Congress, Jinnah representing the Muslim League, B. R. Ambedkar representing the Untouchable community, and Master Tara Singh representing the Sikhs, agreed to a partition of the country along religious lines. The predominantly Hindu and Sikh areas were assigned to the new India and predominantly Muslim areas to the new nation of Pakistan; the plan included a partition of the Muslim-majority provinces of Punjab and Bengal.
Many millions of Muslim, Sikh, and Hindu refugees trekked across the newly drawn borders. In Punjab, where the new border lines divided the Sikh regions in half, massive bloodshed followed; in Bengal and Bihar, where Gandhi's presence assuaged communal tempers, the violence was more limited. In all, anywhere between 250,000 and 500,000 people on both sides of the new borders died in the violence. On 14 August 1947, the new Dominion of Pakistan came into being, with Muhammad Ali Jinnah sworn in as its first Governor General in Karachi. The following day, 15 August 1947, India, now a smaller Union of India, became an independent country with official ceremonies taking place in New Delhi, and with Jawaharlal Nehru assuming the office of the prime minister, and the viceroy, Louis Mountbatten, staying on as its first Governor General.
See also
Delhi Durbar
Imperialism in Asia
Colonialism
British Empire
India Office
Colonial India
Historiography of the British Empire
Indian independence movement
List of Indian Princely States
List of Indian Federal Legislation
Governor-General of India
Commander-in-Chief of India
British Indian Army
Indian Civil Service
Order of the Indian Empire
Anglo-Indian
Anglo-Burmese people
Macaulayism
Notes
References and further reading
Contemporary general textbooks
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Monographs and collections
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Gilmartin, David. 1988. Empire and Islam: Punjab and the Making of Pakistan. Berkeley: University of California Press. 258 pages. ISBN 0520062493.
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Articles in journals or collections
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Classic histories and gazetteers
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Tertiary sources
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Related reading
Bairoch, Paul, Economics and World History, University of Chicago Press, 1995
Bhatia, B. M., Famines in India: A study in Some Aspects of the Economic History of India with Special Reference to Food Problem, Delhi: Konark Publishers Pvt. Ltd, 1985
Bowle, John, The Imperial Achievement, Secker & Warburg, London, 1974, ISBN 978-0316104098
Chapman, Pat Taste of the Raj, Hodder & Stoughton, London—ISBN 0340680350 (1997)
Coates, Tim, (series editor), The Amritsar Massacre 1919 - General Dyer in the Punjab (Official Reports, including Dyer's Testimonies), Her Majesty's Stationary Office (HMSO) 1925, abridged edition, 2000, ISBN 0-11-702412-0
Davis, Mike, Late Victorian Holocausts: El Niño Famines and the Making of the Third World 2001, ISBN 1-85984-739-0
Dutt, Romesh C. Open Letters to Lord Curzon on Famines and Land Assessments in India, first published 1900, 2005 edition by Adamant Media Corporation, Elibron Classics Series, ISBN 1-4021-5115-2
Dutt, Romesh C. The Economic History of India under early British Rule, first published 1902, 2001 edition by Routledge, ISBN 0-415-24493-5
Forbes, Rosita, ''India of the Princes', London, 1939
Forrest, G. W., CIE, (editor), Selections from The State Papers of the Governors-General of India - Warren Hastings (2 vols), Blackwell's, Oxford, 1910
James, Lawrence, Raj - The Making and Unmaking of British India, London, 1997, ISBN 0-316-64072-7
Keay, John, The Honourable Company - A History of the English East India Company, HarperCollins, London, 1991, ISBN 0-00-217515-0
Moorhouse, Geoffrey, India Britannica, Book Club Associates, UK, 1983
Morris, Jan with Simon Winchester, Stones of Empire - The Buildings of the Raj, Oxford University Press, 1st edition 1983 (paperback edition 1986, ISBN 0-19-282036-2
Sen, Amartya, Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlements and Deprivation, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1982
Srivastava, H.C., The History of Indian Famines from 1858-1918, Sri Ram Mehra and Co., Agra, 1968
Voelcker, John Augustus, Report on the Improvement of Indian Agriculture, Indian Government publication, Calcutta, 2nd edition, 1897.
Woodroffe, Sir John, Is India Civilized - Essays on Indian Culture, Madras, 1919.
External links
British India Website
The British Crown's consolidation of India
The New Student's Reference Work/India (1914)
Images of Empire Library, Bristol, UK
British Ruled India (1757-1947) Bibliography of Books Articles and Dissertations Concentrating on 1914-1947
Category:History of Pakistan
Category:States and territories established in 1858
Category:1947 disestablishments
Category:European colonisation in Asia
![Mirza Ghulam Qadiani AGENT of the British Raj [AHMADIYYA CULT]](http://web.archive.org./web/20110415101237im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/RVxaGGooe7g/0.jpg "Mirza Ghulam Qadiani AGENT of the British Raj [AHMADIYYA CULT]")
