The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...

. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another, they existed between 1612 and 1947, conventionally divided into three historical periods: *Between 1612 and 1757 the East India Company set up factories (trading posts) in several locations, mostly in coastal India, with the consent of the Mughal emperors,

Maratha Empire The Maratha Empire, also referred to as the Maratha Confederacy, was an early modern Indian confederation that came to dominate much of the Indian subcontinent in the 18th century. Maratha rule formally began in 1674 with the coronation of Sh ...

or local rulers. Its rivals were the merchant trading companies of Portugal, Denmark, the Netherlands, and France. By the mid-18th century, three ''presidency towns'': Madras,

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second-m ...

and

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

, had grown in size. *During the period of Company rule in India (1757–1858), the company gradually acquired sovereignty over large parts of India, now called "presidencies". However, it also increasingly came under British government oversight, in effect sharing sovereignty with the Crown. At the same time, it gradually lost its mercantile privileges. *Following the Indian Rebellion of 1857 the company's remaining powers were transferred to the Crown. Under the

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

(1858–1947), administrative boundaries were extended to include a few other British-administered regions, such as Upper Burma. Increasingly, however, the unwieldy presidencies were broken up into "provinces". "British India" did not include the many

princely states A princely state (also called native state or Indian state) was a nominally sovereign entity of the British Indian Empire that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, subject to ...

which continued to be ruled by Indian princes, though by the 19th century under British suzerainty—their defence, foreign relations, and communications relinquished to British authority and their internal rule closely monitored. At Indian Independence in 1947 there were over 500 of these (most extremely small, but with a few very large ones). In the British Raj, the provinces comprised approximately three-quarters of the population and three-fifths of the land area of India, the princely states comprising the remainders.

British India (1700–1947)

In 1608, Mughal authorities allowed the English East India Company to establish a small trading settlement at Surat (now in the state of

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

), and this became the company's first headquarters town. It was followed in 1611 by a permanent factory at

Machilipatnam Machilipatnam (), also known as Masulipatnam and Bandar, is a city in Krishna district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is a municipal corporation and the administrative headquarters of Krishna district. It is also the mandal headquarte ...

on the Coromandel Coast, and in 1612 the company joined other already established European trading companies in

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

in trade. However, the power of the Mughal Empire declined from 1707, first at the hands of the Marathas and later due to invasion from Persia (1739) and Afghanistan (1761); after the East India Company's victories at the Battle of Plassey (1757), and Battle of Buxar (1764)—both within 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 ...

established in 1765—and the abolition of local rule (Nizamat) in Bengal in 1793, the company gradually began to formally expand its territories across

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. By the mid-19th century, and after the three Anglo-Maratha Wars the East India Company had become the paramount political and military power in south Asia, its territory held in trust for the British Crown. Company rule in Bengal (after 1793) was terminated by the Government of India Act 1858, following the events of the Bengal

Rebellion of 1857 The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against Company rule in India, the rule of the East India Company, British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the The Crown, British ...

. Henceforth known as British India, it was thereafter directly ruled as a colonial possession of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, and India was officially known after 1876 as the

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

. India was divided into British India, regions that were directly administered by the British, with acts established and passed in the British parliament, and the

, ruled by local rulers of different ethnic backgrounds. These rulers were allowed a measure of internal autonomy in exchange for recognition of British suzerainty. British India constituted a significant portion of India both in area and population; in 1910, for example, it covered approximately 54% of the area and included over 77% of the population. In addition, there were

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

and French exclaves in India. Independence from British rule was achieved in 1947 with the formation of two nations, the Dominions of

and

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

, the latter including East Bengal, present-day

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

. The term ''British India'' also applied to

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

for a shorter time period: beginning in 1824, a small part of Burma, and by 1886, almost two thirds of Burma had been made part of British India. This arrangement lasted until 1937, when Burma was reorganized as a separate British colony. ''British India'' did not apply to other countries in the region, such as Sri Lanka (then Ceylon), which was a British Crown colony, or the

Maldive Islands Maldives (, ; dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖެ, translit=Dhivehi Raajje, ), officially the Republic of Maldives ( dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖޭގެ ޖުމްހޫރިއްޔާ, translit=Dhivehi Raajjeyge Jumhooriyyaa, label=none, ), is an archipelag ...

, which were a British

protectorate A protectorate, in the context of international relations, is a state that is under protection by another state for defence against aggression and other violations of law. It is a dependent territory that enjoys autonomy over most of its int ...

. At its greatest extent, in the early 20th century, the territory of British India extended as far as the frontiers of

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

in the west;

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

in the northwest;

Nepal Nepal (; ne, :ne:नेपाल, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in S ...

in the north,

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa, Taman ...

in the northeast; and China, French Indochina and Siam in the east. It also included the Aden Province in the Arabian Peninsula.

Administration under the East India Company (1793–1858)

The East India Company, which was incorporated on 31 December 1600, established trade relations with Indian rulers in

Masulipatam Machilipatnam (), also known as Masulipatnam and Bandar, is a city in Krishna district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is a municipal corporation and the administrative headquarters of Krishna district. It is also the mandal headquarte ...

on the east coast in 1611 and Surat on the west coast in 1612. The company rented a small trading outpost in Madras in 1639. Bombay, which was ceded to the British Crown by

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

as part of the wedding dowry of

Catherine of Braganza Catherine of Braganza ( pt, Catarina de Bragança; 25 November 1638 – 31 December 1705) was Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland during her marriage to King Charles II, which lasted from 21 May 1662 until his death on 6 February 1685. She ...

in 1661, was in turn granted to the East India Company to be held in trust for the Crown. Meanwhile, in eastern India, after obtaining permission from the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan to trade with Bengal, the company established its first factory at Hoogly in 1640. Almost a half-century later, after Mughal Emperor Aurengzeb forced the company out of Hooghly for its tax evasion, Job Charnock purchased three small villages, later renamed

, in 1686, making it the company's new headquarters. By the mid-18th century, the three principal trading settlements including factories and forts, were then called the Madras Presidency (or the Presidency of Fort St. George), the Bombay Presidency, and the Bengal Presidency (or the Presidency of Fort William)—each administered by a governor.

The presidencies

Joppen1907India1700a.jpg , The Indian peninsula in 1700, showing the Mughal Empire and the European trading settlements. India1760 1905.jpg , The Indian peninsula in 1760, three years after the Battle of Plassey, showing the

and other prominent political states. IGI1908MadrasTown2(1).jpg, The presidency town of Madras in a 1908 map. Madras was established as Fort St. George in 1640. IGI1908IsleBombay2(1).jpg, The presidency town of Bombay (shown here in a 1908 map) was established in 1684. IGI1908CalcuttaTown2.jpg, The presidency town of Calcutta (shown here in a 1908 map) was established in 1690 as Fort William. * Madras Presidency: established 1640. * Bombay Presidency: East India Company's headquarters moved from Surat to Bombay (Mumbai) in 1687. *

: established 1690. After Robert Clive's victory in the Battle of Plassey in 1757, the puppet government of a new Nawab of Bengal, was maintained by the East India Company. However, after the invasion of Bengal by the

Nawab of Oudh The Nawab of Awadh or the Nawab of Oudh was the title of the rulers who governed the state of Awadh (anglicised as Oudh) in north India during the 18th and 19th centuries. The Nawabs of Awadh belonged to a dynasty of Persian origin from Nishap ...

in 1764 and his subsequent defeat in the Battle of Buxar, the Company obtained the ''Diwani'' of Bengal, which included the right to administer and collect land-revenue (land tax) in ''Bengal'', the region of present-day Bangladesh, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar beginning from 1772 as per the treaty signed in 1765. By 1773, the Company obtained the ''Nizāmat'' of Bengal (the "exercise of criminal jurisdiction") and thereby full sovereignty of the expanded

. During the period, 1773 to 1785, very little changed; the only exceptions were the addition of the dominions of the '' Raja'' of Banares to the western boundary of the Bengal Presidency, and the addition of

Salsette Island Salsette Island is an island in Konkan division of the state of Maharashtra on India's west coast. Administratively known as Greater Mumbai, the city district of Mumbai, Mumbai Suburban District, Mira Bhayander and a portion of Thane lie wi ...

to the Bombay Presidency. Portions of the Kingdom of Mysore were annexed to the Madras Presidency after the Third Anglo-Mysore War ended in 1792. Next, in 1799, after the defeat of

Tipu Sultan Tipu Sultan (born Sultan Fateh Ali Sahab Tipu, 1 December 1751 – 4 May 1799), also known as the Tiger of Mysore, was the ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore based in South India. He was a pioneer of rocket artillery.Dalrymple, p. 243 He i ...

in the

Fourth Anglo-Mysore War The Fourth Anglo-Mysore War was a conflict in South India between the Kingdom of Mysore against the British East India Company and the Hyderabad Deccan in 1798–99. This was the final conflict of the four Anglo-Mysore Wars. The British captured ...

more of his territory was annexed to the Madras Presidency. In 1801, Carnatic, which had been under the suzerainty of the company, began to be directly administered by it as a part of the Madras Presidency. File:IGI1908India1765a.jpg, Map of India in 1765. File:Joppen1907India1795a.jpg, Map of India in 1795. File:Joppen1907India1805a.jpg, Map of India in 1805. File:Joppen1907India1823a.jpg, Map of India in 1823. File:IGI1908India1837a.jpg, Map of India in 1837. File:Joppen1907India1848a.jpg, Map of India in 1848. File:IGI1908India1857b-coloured.jpg, Map of India in 1857. File:Joppen1907BritishBengalBritishBurmaA.jpg, Expansion of British Bengal and Burma.

The new provinces

By 1851, the East India Company's vast and growing holdings across the sub-continent were still grouped into just four main territories: *

with its capital at

* Bombay Presidency with its capital at

* Madras Presidency with its capital at Madras *

North-Western Provinces The North-Western Provinces was an administrative region in British India. The North-Western Provinces were established in 1836, through merging the administrative divisions of the Ceded and Conquered Provinces. In 1858, the nawab-ruled kingdo ...

with the seat of the lieutenant-governor at

Agra Agra (, ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital New Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is ...

. The original seat of government was at

Allahabad Allahabad (), officially known as Prayagraj, also known as Ilahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi (Benares). It is the administrat ...

, then at

from 1834 to 1868. In 1833, an Act of the British Parliament (statute 3 and 4, William IV, cap. 85) promulgated the elevation the ''

Ceded and Conquered Provinces The Ceded and Conquered Provinces constituted a region in northern India that was ruled by the British East India Company from 1805 to 1834; it corresponded approximately—in present-day India—to all regions in Uttar Pradesh sta ...

'' to the new ''Presidency of Agra'', and the appointment of a new governor for the latter, but the plan was never carried out. In 1835 another act of Parliament (statute 5 and 6, William IV, cap. 52) renamed the region the ''North-Western Provinces'', this time to be administered by a lieutenant-governor, the first of whom, Sir Charles Metcalfe, would be appointed in 1836. By the time of the Indian Rebellion of 1857, and the end of Company rule, the developments could be summarised as follows: * Bombay Presidency: expanded after the Anglo-Maratha Wars. * Madras Presidency: expanded in the mid-to-late 18th century

Carnatic Wars The Carnatic Wars were a series of military conflicts in the middle of the 18th century in India's coastal Carnatic region, a dependency of Hyderabad State, India. Three Carnatic Wars were fought between 1744 and 1763. The conflicts involved n ...

and

Anglo-Mysore Wars The Anglo-Mysore Wars were a series of four wars fought during the last three decades of the 18th century between the Sultanate of Mysore on the one hand, and the British East India Company (represented chiefly by the neighbouring Madras Pres ...

. *

: expanded after the battles of

Plassey Palashi or Plassey ( bn, পলাশী, Palāśī, translit-std=ISO, , ) is a village on the east bank of Bhagirathi River, located approximately 50 kilometres north of the city of Krishnanagar in Kaliganj CD Block in the Nadia Distric ...

(1757) and

Buxar Buxar is a nagar parishad city in the state of Bihar, India bordering Uttar Pradesh. It is the headquarters of the eponymous Buxar district, as well as the headquarters of the community development block of Buxar, which also contains the ce ...

(1764), and after the

Second The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ...

and

Third Anglo-Maratha War The Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817–1819) was the final and decisive conflict between the English East India Company and the Maratha Empire in India. The war left the Company in control of most of India. It began with an invasion of Maratha ter ...

s. *

Penang Penang ( ms, Pulau Pinang, is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay ...

: became a residency within the Bengal Presidency in 1786, the fourth presidency of India in 1805, part of the presidency of the Straits Settlements until 1830, again part of a residency within the Bengal Presidency when the Straits Settlements became so, and finally separated from British India in 1867. *

: established in 1802 within the

. Proposed to be renamed the

Presidency of Agra Agra Presidency was one of the six Northwestern Provinces of British India (which constituted one of the eight separate administrations into which India was divided in the first half of the 19th century). It had an area of and a population of ab ...

under a governor in 1835, but proposal not implemented. *

Ajmer-Merwara Ajmer-Merwara, also known as Ajmir Province and as Ajmer-Merwara-Kekri, was a former province of British India in the historical Ajmer region. The territory was ceded to the British by Daulat Rao Sindhia by a treaty on 25 June 1818. It was u ...

: ceded by

Sindhia The Scindia dynasty (anglicized from Shinde) is a Hindu Maratha dynasty of maratha origin that ruled the erstwhile State of Gwalior. It had the Patil-ship of Kumberkerrab in Wai. It was founded by Ranoji Scindia, who started as a personal serva ...

Gwalior Gwalior() is a major city in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh; it lies in northern part of Madhya Pradesh and is one of the Counter-magnet cities. Located south of Delhi, the capital city of India, from Agra and from Bhopal, the s ...

in 1818 at the conclusion of the

. * Coorg: Annexed in 1834. *

: established as a lieutenant-governorship in 1836 from the erstwhile ''Ceded and Conquered Provinces.'' *

Sind Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...

: annexed to the Bombay Presidency in 1843. * Punjab Province: Established in 1849 from territories captured in the

First First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

and

Anglo-Sikh Wars. *

Nagpur Province Nagpur Province was a province of British India that covered parts of the present-day states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Chhattisgarh. The city of Nagpur was the capital of the province. In 1861, Nagpur Province was merged into the C ...

: Created in 1853 from the princely state of Nagpur, seized by the

doctrine of lapse The doctrine of lapse was a policy of annexation initiated by the East India Company in the Indian subcontinent about the princely states, and applied until the year 1858, the year after Company rule was succeeded by the British Raj under the ...

. Merged into the Central Provinces in 1861. *

Oudh State The Oudh State (, also Kingdom of Awadh, Kingdom of Oudh, or Awadh State) was a princely state in the Awadh region of North India until its annexation by the British in 1856. The name Oudh, now obsolete, was once the anglicized name of ...

annexed in 1856 and governed thereafter until 1905 as a chief commissionership, as a part of

and Oudh. File:Pope1880NorthWesternProv2.jpg,

, constituted in 1836 from erstwhile

. File:Pope1880Panjab3.jpg,

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

annexed in 1849. File:Pope1880Oudh2.jpg,

Oudh The Oudh State (, also Kingdom of Awadh, Kingdom of Oudh, or Awadh State) was a princely state in the Awadh region of North India until its annexation by the British in 1856. The name Oudh, now obsolete, was once the anglicized name of ...

annexed in 1856.

Administration under the Crown (1858–1947)

Historical background

The British Raj began with the idea of the presidencies as the centres of government. Until 1834, when a General Legislative Council was formed, each presidency under its governor and council was empowered to enact a code of so-called 'regulations' for its government. Therefore, any territory or province that was added by conquest or treaty to a presidency came under the existing regulations of the corresponding presidency. However, in the case of provinces that were acquired but were not annexed to any of the three presidencies, their official staff could be provided as the governor-general pleased, and was not governed by the existing regulations of the Bengal, Madras, or Bombay presidencies. Such provinces became known as 'non-regulation provinces' and up to 1833 no provision for a legislative power existed in such places. The same two kinds of management applied for districts. Thus

Ganjam Ganjam is a town and a notified area council in Ganjam district in the state of Odisha, India. Brahmapur, one of the major city of Odisha is situated in this district. Geography Ganjam is located at in the Ganjam district of Odisha with an ...

and

Vizagapatam , image_alt = , image_caption = From top, left to right: Visakhapatnam aerial view, Vizag seaport, Simhachalam Temple, Aerial view of Rushikonda Beach, Beach road, Novotel Visakhapatnam, INS Kursura submarine museum, ...

were non-regulation districts.Geography of India
1870 Non-regulation provinces included: *

Ajmir Province Ajmer-Merwara, also known as Ajmir Province and as Ajmer-Merwara-Kekri, was a former province of British India in the historical Ajmer region. The territory was ceded to the British by Daulat Rao Sindhia by a treaty on 25 June 1818. It was und ...

(Ajmer-Merwara) *

Cis-Sutlej states The Cis-Sutlej states were a group of states in the modern Punjab and Haryana states of northwestern India during the 19th century, lying between the Sutlej River on the north, the Himalayas on the east, the Yamuna River and Delhi District on the ...

Saugor and Nerbudda Territories The Saugor and Nerbudda Territories, was a region of British India, located in the central part of present-day Madhya Pradesh state in central India. It included the present-day districts of Sagar (Saugor), Damoh, Jabalpur, and Narsinghpur. T ...

North-East Frontier Assam Province was a province of British India, created in 1912 by the partition of the Eastern Bengal and Assam Province. Its capital was in Shillong. The Assam territory was first separated from Bengal in 1874 as the 'North-East Frontier' ...

(Assam) *

Cooch Behar Cooch Behar (), or Koch Bihar, is a city and a municipality in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the Cooch Behar district. It is in the foothills of the Eastern Himalayas at . Cooch Behar is the only planned city in t ...

South-West Frontier Chota Nagpur Division, also known as the South-West Frontier, was an administrative division of British India. It included most of the present-day state of Jharkhand as well as adjacent portions of West Bengal, Orissa, and Chhattisgarh. History ...

(Chota Nagpur) *

Jhansi Province Jhansi was an independent princely state ruled by the Maratha Newalkar dynasty under suzerainty of British India from 1804 till 1853, when the British authorities took over the state under the terms of the Doctrine of Lapse, and renamed it t ...

* Kumaon Province File:Pope1880BritishIndia1.jpg, British India in 1880: This map incorporates the Provinces of British India, the Princely States and the legally non-Indian Crown Colony of Ceylon. File:IndiaPolitical1893ConstablesHandAtlas.jpg, The Indian Empire in 1893 after the annexation of

Upper Burma Upper Myanmar ( my, အထက်မြန်မာပြည်, also called Upper Burma) is a geographic region of Myanmar, traditionally encompassing Mandalay and its periphery (modern Mandalay, Sagaing, Magway Regions), or more broadly speak ...

and incorporation of Baluchistan. File:Jopen1907IndianEmpire1907a.jpg , The

in 1907 during the partition of Bengal (1905–1912). File:IndianEmpireCeylon1915.jpg, The Indian Empire in 1915 after the reunification of Bengal, the creation of the new province of Bihar and Orissa, and the re-establishment of Assam.

Regulation provinces

* Central Provinces: Created in 1861 from Nagpur Province and the

. Berar was added to the province in 1903, and was renamed the Central Provinces and Berar in 1936. *

: Lower Burma annexed 1852, established as a province in 1862,

incorporated in 1886. Separated from British India in 1937 to become administered independently by the newly established British Government

Burma Office The Burma Office was a British government department created in 1937 to oversee the administration of Burma. The department was headed until 1947 by the Secretary of State for India and Burma, a member of the British cabinet, and then for a few m ...

. *

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

: separated from Bengal in 1874 as the

non-regulation province. Incorporated into the new province of

Eastern Bengal and Assam Eastern Bengal and Assam was an administrative subdivision (province) of British India between 1905 and 1912. Headquartered in the city of Dacca, it covered territories in what are now Bangladesh, Northeast India and Northern West Bengal. Hist ...

in 1905. Re-established as a province in 1912. *

Andaman and Nicobar Islands The Andaman and Nicobar Islands is a union territory of India consisting of 572 islands, of which 37 are inhabited, at the junction of the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. The territory is about north of Aceh in Indonesia and separated f ...

: established as a province in 1875. * Baluchistan: Organised into a province in 1887. File:Pope1880MadrasPres2.jpg, Madras Presidency shown in an 1880 map. File:Pope1880BombayPres2.jpg, Bombay Presidency in an 1880 map. File:Pope1880BengalPres2.jpg, Bengal Presidency in 1880. File:Pope1880CentralProv2.jpg, An 1880 map of Central Provinces. The province had been constituted in 1861. File:IGI1908CPandBerar2.jpg, 1908 map of Central Provinces and Berar. Berar was included in 1903. File:Pope1880Beluch2.jpg, Beluchistan, shown as an independent kingdom along with Afghanistan and Turkestan, in an 1880 map. File:IGI1908Beluchistan2.jpg, Baluchistan in 1908: the Districts and Agencies of British Baluchistan are shown alongside the States, mostly: Kalat. *

North-West Frontier Province The North-West Frontier Province (NWFP; ps, شمال لویدیځ سرحدي ولایت, ) was a Chief Commissioner's Province of British India, established on 9 November 1901 from the north-western districts of the Punjab Province. Followi ...

: created in 1901 from the north-western districts of Punjab Province. *

: created in 1905 upon the partition of Bengal, together with the former province of Assam. Re-merged with Bengal in 1912, with north-eastern part re-established as the province of Assam. * Bihar and Orissa: separated from Bengal in 1912. Renamed Bihar in 1936 when

Orissa Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of S ...

became a separate province. * Delhi: Separated from Punjab in 1912, when it became the capital of British India. *

: Separate province by carving out certain portions from the Bihar-Orissa Province and the Madras Province in 1936. *

: Separated from Bombay in 1936. * Panth-Piploda: made a province in 1942, from territories ceded by a native ruler.

Major provinces

British Indian Empire 1909 Imperial Gazetteer of India

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): During the partition of Bengal (1905–1912), a new lieutenant-governor's province of Eastern Bengal and Assam existed. In 1912, the partition was partially reversed, with the eastern and western halves of Bengal re-united and the province of Assam re-established; a new lieutenant-governor's province of Bihar and Orissa was also created.

Minor provinces

In addition, there were a few provinces that were administered by a chief commissioner:

Aden

* As the Settlement of Aden, a dependency of the Bombay Presidency from 1839 to 1932; becomes a chief commissioner's province in 1932; separated from India and made the Aden Colony, Crown Colony of Aden in 1937.

Partition and independence (1947)

At the time of independence in 1947, British India had 17 provinces: *

* Assam Province, Assam * Baluchistan (Chief Commissioners Province), Baluchistan * Bengal Presidency, Bengal * Bihar Province, Bihar * Bombay Presidency, Bombay * Central Provinces and Berar * Coorg Province, Coorg * Delhi * Madras Presidency, Madras * North-West Frontier Province (1901–1955), North-West Frontier * Orissa Province, Orissa * Panth-Piploda Province, Panth-Piploda * Punjab Province (British India), Punjab * Sind Province (1936–1955), Sind * United Provinces (1937–50), United Provinces Upon the partition of British India into the Dominion of India and Dominion of Pakistan, eleven provinces (Ajmer-Merwara-Kekri, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Bihar, Bombay, Central Provinces and Berar, Coorg, Delhi, Madras, Panth-Piploda, Orissa, and the United Provinces) joined India, three (Baluchistan, North-West Frontier and Sindh) joined Pakistan, and three (British Punjab, Punjab,

and Assam) were partitioned between India and Pakistan. In 1950, after the new Constitution of India, Indian constitution was adopted, the provinces in India were replaced by redrawn states and union territories. Pakistan, however, retained its five provinces, one of which, East Bengal, was renamed East Pakistan in 1956 and became the independent nation of

in 1971.

In popular culture

The movie RRR (film), RRR (released in 2022) is a movie where Alluri Sitarama Raju, Alluri Sita Rama Raju and Komaram Bheem fight a governor named Scott to reclaim a young girl from the Gondi people, Gond tribe, (based on the Gondi tribe) Malli.

Citations

General references

* ''The Imperial Gazetteer of India'' (26 vol, 1908–31), highly detailed description of all of India in 1901
online edition
* * *

External links

*
Statistical abstracts relating to British India, from 1840 to 1920
at uchicago.edu

at latrobe.edu.au * Collection of early 20th century photographs of the cities of Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras with other interesting Indian locations from the magazine, ''India Illustrated'', at th
University of Houston Digital Library

{{DEFAULTSORT:Presidencies And Provinces Of British India 1612 establishments in India, 1947 disestablishments in India, Presidencies of British India, Subdivisions of British India, * British India Former British colonies and protectorates in Asia History of India History of Pakistan