Theprovinces of India, earlierpresidencies of British India and still earlier,presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on theIndian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been calledBritish India. In one form or another, they existed between 1612 and 1947, conventionally divided into three historical periods:
"British India" did not include the manyprincely states which continued to be ruled by Indian princes, though by the 19th century under Britishsuzerainty—their defence, foreign relations, and communications relinquished to British authority and their internal rule closely monitored.[2] At the time ofIndian Independence, in 1947, there were officially 565 princely states, a few being very large although most were very small. They comprised a quarter of the population of theBritish Raj and two fifths of its land area, with the provinces comprising the remainders.[3]
In 1608, theMughal EmperorJahangir issued a royalfarman to theEast India Company to establish a small trading settlement atSurat (now in the state ofGujarat), and this became the company's first headquarters town. It was followed in 1611 by a permanentfactory atMachilipatnam on theCoromandel Coast, and in 1612 the company joined other already established European trading companies inBengal in trade.[4] The defeat of the company by 1690 in theAnglo-Mughal war resulted in temporary destabilization.[5] However, the power of the Mughal Empire declined from 1707, first at the hands of theMarathas and later due to invasion from Persia (1739) and Afghanistan (1761); after the East India Company's victories at theBattle of Plassey (1757), andBattle of Buxar (1764)—both within theBengal Presidency established in 1765—and the abolition of local rule (Nizamat) in Bengal in 1793, the company gradually began to formally expand its territories acrossIndia.[6] By the mid-19th century, and after the threeAnglo-Maratha Wars and the fourAnglo-Mysore Wars, the East India Company had become the paramount political and military power in south Asia, its territory held intrust for theBritish Crown.[7]
Company rule in Bengal (after 1793) was terminated by theGovernment of India Act 1858, following the events of the BengalRebellion of 1857.[7] Henceforth known as British India, it was thereafter directly ruled as a colonial possession of theUnited Kingdom, and India was officially known after 1876 as theIndian Empire.[8] India was divided into British India, regions that were directly administered by the British, with acts established and passed in the British parliament,[9] and theprincely states,[10] ruled by local rulers of different ethnic backgrounds. These rulers were allowed a measure of internal autonomy in exchange for recognition of Britishsuzerainty. 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.[11] In addition, there werePortuguese andFrenchexclaves in India. Independence from British rule was achieved in 1947 with the formation of two nations, theDominions ofIndia andPakistan, the latter includingEast Bengal, present-dayBangladesh.
The termBritish India also applied toBurma (now Myanmar) 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.[9] This arrangement lasted until 1937, when Burma wasreorganized as a separate British colony.British India did not apply to other countries in the region, such asSri Lanka (thenCeylon), which was a BritishCrown colony, or theMaldive Islands, which were a Britishprotectorate. At its greatest extent, in the early 20th century, the territory of British India extended as far as the frontiers ofPersia in the west;Afghanistan in the northwest;Nepal in the north,Tibet in the northeast; and China,French Indochina andSiam in the east. It also included theAden Province in theArabian Peninsula.[12]
TheEast India Company, which was incorporated on 31 December 1600, established trade relations with Indian rulers inMasulipatam on the east coast in 1611 andSurat on the west coast in 1612.[13] The company rented a small trading outpost inMadras in 1639.[13] Bombay, which was ceded to the British Crown byPortugal as part of the wedding dowry ofCatherine of Braganza in 1661, was in turn granted to the East India Company to be held in trust for the Crown.[13]
Meanwhile, ineastern India, after obtaining permission from the Mughal EmperorShah Jahan to trade with Bengal, the company established its first factory atHoogly in 1640.[13] Almost a half-century later, after Mughal EmperorAurengzeb forced the company out of Hooghly for its tax evasion,Job Charnock was tenant of three small villages, later renamedCalcutta, in 1686, making it the company's new headquarters.[13] 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.[14]
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AfterRobert Clive's victory in theBattle of Plassey in 1757, the puppet government of a newNawab of Bengal, was maintained by the East India Company.[15] However, after the invasion of Bengal by theNawab of Oudh in 1764 and his subsequent defeat in theBattle of Buxar, the Company obtained theDiwani of Bengal, which included the right to administer and collect land-revenue (land tax) inBengal, the region of present-day Bangladesh, West Bengal, Jharkhand andBihar beginning from 1772 as per the treaty signed in 1765.[15] By 1773, the Company obtained theNizāmat of Bengal (the "exercise of criminal jurisdiction") and thereby full sovereignty of the expandedBengal Presidency.[15] During the period, 1773 to 1785, very little changed; the only exceptions were the addition of the dominions of theRaja ofBanares to the western boundary of the Bengal Presidency, and the addition ofSalsette Island to theBombay Presidency.[16]
Portions of theKingdom of Mysore were annexed to theMadras Presidency after theThird Anglo-Mysore War ended in 1792. Next, in 1799, after the defeat ofTipu Sultan in theFourth Anglo-Mysore War more of his territory was annexed to the Madras Presidency.[16] In 1801,Carnatic, which had been under thesuzerainty of the company, began to be directly administered by it as a part of the Madras Presidency.[17]
By 1851, the East India Company's vast and growing holdings across the sub-continent were still grouped into just four main territories:
By the time of theIndian Rebellion of 1857, and the end of Company rule, the developments could be summarised as follows:
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.[19] The same two kinds of management applied for districts. ThusGanjam andVizagapatam were non-regulation districts.[20] Non-regulation provinces included:
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):[21] 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 ofBihar and Orissa was also created.
| Province of British India[21] | Area (in thousands of square miles) | Population | Chief administrative officer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Burma | 170 | 9,000,000 | Lieutenant-Governor |
| Bengal | 151 | 75,000,000 | Lieutenant-Governor |
| Madras | 142 | 38,000,000 | Governor-in-Council |
| Bombay | 123 | 19,000,000 | Governor-in-Council |
| United Provinces | 107 | 48,000,000 | Lieutenant-Governor |
| Central Provinces and Berar | 104 | 13,000,000 | Chief Commissioner |
| Punjab | 138 | 20,000,000 | Lieutenant-Governor |
| Assam | 49 | 6,000,000 | Chief Commissioner |
In addition, there were a few provinces that were administered by a chief commissioner:[22]
| Minor Province[22] | Area (in thousands of square miles) | Population | Chief administrative officer |
|---|---|---|---|
| North-West Frontier Province | 16 | 2,125,000 | Chief Commissioner |
| Baluchistan | 46 | 308,000 | British political agent in Baluchistan served asex officio Chief Commissioner |
| Coorg | 1.6 | 181,000 | British Resident in Mysore served asex officio Chief Commissioner |
| Ajmer-Merwara | 2.7 | 477,000 | British political agent inRajputana served asex officio Chief Commissioner |
| Andaman and Nicobar Islands | 3 | 25,000 | Chief Commissioner |
At the time of independence in 1947, British India had 17 provinces:
Upon thePartition of India into theDominion of India andDominion 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 (Punjab,Bengal andAssam) were partitioned between India and Pakistan.
In 1950, after the newIndian 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 renamedEast Pakistan in 1956 and became the independent nation ofBangladesh in 1971.
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