The Districts of British India were administrative units of the Government of the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi language, Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Q ...

or Indian Empire. Districts were generally

subdivisions Subdivision may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Subdivision (metre), in music * ''Subdivision'' (film), 2009 * "Subdivision", an episode of ''Prison Break'' (season 2) * ''Subdivisions'' (EP), by Sinch, 2005 * "Subdivisions" (song), by Rush ...

of the

provinces A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...

and

divisions of British India The Divisions of British India were administrative units of the Government of the British Raj or Indian Empire.''Imperial Gazetteer of India''. Published under the authority of His Majesty's Secretary of State for India in Council. Oxford: Clare ...

History

Districts, often known as '' zillas'' in

vernacular A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a "standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is typically the native language, n ...

, were established as

of the

(''praanths'' in vernacular) and

that were under one of the three Presidencies. ''

Imperial Gazetteer of India ''The Imperial Gazetteer of India'' was a gazetteer of the British Indian Empire, and is now a historical reference work. It was first published in 1881. Sir William Wilson Hunter made the original plans of the book, starting in 1869. ...

'', vol. V, 1908 Most of the districts that were created during the British Raj became

Districts of India A district ('' zila'') is an administrative division of an Indian state or territory. In some cases, districts are further subdivided into sub-divisions, and in others directly into ''tehsils'' or ''talukas''. , there are a total of 766 dist ...

after the

independence of India The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947. The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged ...

Historical districts

The following list includes only districts of British India that became extinguished or that saw major changes in their history:

Districts in the
Madras Presidency The Madras Presidency, or the Presidency of Fort St. George, also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision (presidency) of British India. At its greatest extent, the presidency included most of southern India, including th ...

* Anantapur district *

Bellary district Bellary, officially known as Ballari (pronounced ), is a major district in Karnataka. It is located at north-eastern part of Karnataka. This district belongs to Kalyana-Karnataka. This district was one of the biggest districts in Karnataka un ...

(including parts of Present-day Kurnool district) * Chingleput District *

Coimbatore District (Madras Presidency) Coimbatore District was one of the districts of the erstwhile Madras Presidency of British India. It covered the areas of the present-day districts of Coimbatore, Erode and Tirupur and the Kollegal taluk of present-day Karnataka. It covered a ...

Cuddapah district Kadapa district (officially: YSR district; formerly: Cuddapah district) is one of the twenty six districts in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. On 19 August 2005 nomenclature of “Cuddapah” has been changed as “Kadapa” by the Governm ...

* Ganjam district (including present-day

Gajapati district Gajapati district is a district of Odisha State in India. It was created from Ganjam District on 2 October, 1992. Gajapati district was named after Krushna Chandra Gajapati Narayan Deb, the King of the Paralakhemundi estate and the first Prime ...

and parts of

Srikakulam district Srikakulam district is one of the twenty-six districts of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, located in the Uttarandhra region of the state, with its headquarters located at Srikakulam. It is one of the six districts, located in the extreme n ...

) *

Godavari District Godavari District was a district in Madras Presidency The Madras Presidency, or the Presidency of Fort St. George, also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision (presidency) of British India. At its greatest extent, the ...

Krishna district Krishna district is district in the coastal Andhra Region in Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, with Machilipatnam as its administrative headquarters. It is the coastal district of Andhra Pradesh. Machilipatnam is the most populated city in the di ...

(including

Guntur district Guntur district is one of the twenty six districts in the Coastal Andhra region of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The administrative seat of the district is located at Guntur, the largest city of the district in terms of area and with a ...

) *

Kurnool district Kurnool district is one of the eight districts in the Rayalaseema region of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is located in the North western part of the state and is bounded by Jogulamba Gadwal district of Telangana in the north, Rai ...

(including parts of present-day

Prakasam district Prakasam district is one of the thirteen districts in the coastal Andhra region of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It was formed in 1970 and reorganised in 2022 on April 4. The headquarters of the district is Ongole. It is located on the west ...

) *

Madura District (Madras Presidency) Madurai District was one of the districts of the Madras Presidency of British India. It covered the present-day districts of Madurai, Dindigul, Theni, Ramanathapuram, Sivagangai and parts of Virudhunagar District in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. ...

Malabar District Malabar District, also known as Malayalam District, was an administrative district on the southwestern Malabar Coast of Bombay Presidency (1792-1800) and Madras Presidency (1800-1947) in British India, and independent India's Madras State (19 ...

* Nellore district (including parts of present-day Prakasam and

Tiruvallur Tiruvallur is a Grade I municipality and a fast developing city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of Coovum river about from downtown Chennai (Madras) and just 5 km from megacity border, in the western pa ...

districts) *

North Arcot North Arcot was a former district in Madras Presidency, acquired by the annexation of the Arcot State in 1855 when its Nawab died without issue. It had Chittoor as its headquarters (currently in Andhra pradesh). On 1 April 1911, the Chittoor di ...

*Salem District * South Arcot District *

South Canara South Canara was a district of the Madras Presidency of British India, located at . It comprised the towns of Kassergode and Udipi and adjacent villages, with the capital in Mangalore city. South Canara was one of the most heterogeneous areas ...

* Tanjore District * Tinnevely District *

Trichinopoly District The Trichinopoly district was a district of the erstwhile Madras Presidency of British India. It covered the present-day districts of Tiruchirappalli, Karur, Ariyalur and Perambalur in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The administrative headqua ...

* Vizagapatam district (including

Vizianagaram district Vizianagaram district is one of the six districts in the Uttarandhra region of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Andhra Pradesh with its headquarters located at Vizianagaram. The district was once the part of ancient K ...

)

Districts in the
Bengal Presidency The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William and later Bengal Province, was a subdivision of the British Empire in India. At the height of its territorial jurisdiction, it covered large parts of what is now South Asia and ...

* Bakerganj District *

Bassein District Bassein may refer to: vasai India * Vasai, a city in Maharashtra state, India; known as Bassein during Portuguese rule ** Treaty of Bassein (1534) ** Treaty of Bassein (1802) ** Military history of Bassein * Bassein Fort, a colonial fort in Vasai ...

* Champaran District *

Garo Hills district Garo may refer to: People and languages * Garo people, a tribal people in India ** Garo language, the language spoken by the Garo tribe Places * Kingdom of Garo, a former kingdom in southern Ethiopia * Garo, Colorado * Garo Hills, part of t ...

* Jungle Mahals * Jungle Terry * Khasi and Jaintia Hills * Lushai Hills District * Manbhum District * Naga Hills District *

Purnia District Purnia District is one of the thirty-eight districts of the Indian state of Bihar. The city of Purnia is the administrative headquarters of this district. The city of Purnia has continued its tradition of hoisting the national flag at 12:07 am ...

Shahabad district Shahabad district or Arrah district, headquartered at Arrah (now part of Bhojpur District, Bihar) was a Bhojpuri speaking district in western Bihar, India, making the western border of Bihar with Uttar Pradesh. In 1972, the district was split in ...

Singhbhum District Singhbhum was a district of India during the British Raj, part of the Chota Nagpur Division of the Bengal Presidency. It was located in the present-day Indian state of Jharkhand. Chaibasa was the district headquarters. Located in the southern li ...

Tipperah District Meghna Division (Bengali: মেঘনা বিভাগ) is a proposed administrative division within Bangladesh for the north-western parts of the existing Chittagong Division, comprising Brahmanbaria, Comilla, Chandpur, Noakhali, Feni, and ...

Districts in the
Bombay Presidency The Bombay Presidency or Bombay Province, also called Bombay and Sind (1843–1936), was an administrative subdivision (province) of British India, with its capital in the city that came up over the seven islands of Bombay. The first mainl ...

East Khandesh Jalgaon (Marathi pronunciation: ͡ʒəɭɡaːʋ is a district in the northern part of Maharashtra, India. The headquarters is the city of Jalgaon. It is bordered by the state of Madhya Pradesh to the north and by the districts of Buldhana to ...

* Kaladgi District * Khandesh District *

Upper Sind Frontier District Upper Sind Frontier District was a district of the Bombay Presidency during British Rule in colonial India. The district was the northernmost portion of Sind and lay between 27°56' and 28° 27' N. and 68° and 69° 44' E., with an area of . It wa ...

* West Khandesh

Other districts

* Bhilsa District *

Chanderi District Chanderi District was a former administrative district of British India. It covered most of present-day Lalitpur District of Uttar Pradesh state and the eastern portion of Ashoknagar District of Madhya Pradesh state. History Before 1811, the ...

Delhi District Punjab was a province of British India. Most of the Punjab region was annexed by the East India Company in 2 April 1849, and declared a province of British Rule, it was one of the last areas of the Indian subcontinent to fall under British co ...

Ellichpur District Ellichpur District is a former district of British India. It encompassed the western portion of present-day Amravati District in Maharashtra state. Ellichpur (Achalpur) was the administrative headquarters of the district. Ellichpur District h ...

Garhwal District Garhwal District is a former district in Kumaon of British India of the United Provinces, and had an area of . It later became a part of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, today it is part of the Indian state Uttarakhand. History The first dy ...

Hazara District Hazara District was a district of Peshawar Division in the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan. It existed until 1976, when it was split into the districts of Abbottabad and Mansehra, with the new district of Haripur subsequently splitting of ...

* Isagarh District *

Kumaon District Kumaon (; Kumaoni: ''Kumāū''; ; historically romanized as KemāonJames Prinsep (Editor)John McClelland ) is a revenue and administrative division in the Indian State of Uttarakhand. It spans over the eastern half of the state and is bounded ...

* Lyallpur District *

Merwara District Marwar (also called Jodhpur region) is a region of western Rajasthan state in North Western India. It lies partly in the Thar Desert. The word 'maru' is Sanskrit for desert. In Rajasthani languages, "wad" means a particular area. English tra ...

Montgomery District Montgomery District was an administrative district of the former Punjab Province of British India, in what is now Pakistan. Named after Sir Robert Montgomery, it lay in the Bari Doab, or the tract between the Sutlej and the Ravi rivers, extendin ...

* Muhamdi District *

Nimar District Nimar is the southwestern region of Madhya Pradesh state in west-central India. This region has sub-regions which include Nimad, Khandya and Bhuwana. The region lies south of the Vindhya Range, and consists of two portions of the Narmada and ...

* North Bareilly District * Quetta-Pishin District *

Shahpur District Shahpur District was a district in current day Pakistan from 1893, during the British Raj, till 1960. From 1893 to 1914 Shahpur was the district headquarters. In 1914 the district headquarters were moved from Shahpur to Sargodha, although the dis ...

Sironj District Sironj is a town and a municipality in Vidisha district in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. Demographics India census, Sironj had a population of 52,100. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Sironj has an average ...

* Thal-Chotiali *

Wun District Wani () is a 3rd largest city in Yavatmal district in the Indian state of Maharashtra., United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Wani is located in eastern part of Yavatmal district and borders Chandrapur district. Despite bein ...

* Neemuch District *

Peshawar District Peshawar District ( ps, پېښور ولسوالۍ, hnd, , ur, ) is a district in Peshawar Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. It is located about 160 km west of the Pakistan's capital Islamabad. The district headquarter i ...

References

External links

Pamphlets issued by the India office and by other British and Indian governmental agencies, relating to the government of India, and to various political, economic, and social questions concerning it and Burma
{{india-hist-stub

History

Historical districts

Districts in the Madras Presidency The Madras Presidency, or the Presidency of Fort St. George, also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision (presidency) of British India. At its greatest extent, the presidency included most of southern India, including th ...

Districts in the Bengal Presidency The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William and later Bengal Province, was a subdivision of the British Empire in India. At the height of its territorial jurisdiction, it covered large parts of what is now South Asia and ...