Partition of India – 75 years ago
Independence from British colonial rule in 1947 split the subcontinent into the separate nations of India and Pakistan, but led to unprecedented carnage on both sides of the hastily created border


1858: India comes under direct rule of British crown following failed rebellion of 1857

1885: Indian National Congress founded – forum for emerging nationalist feeling

1906: All India Muslim League founded to defend Muslim political interests

1920: Nationalist figurehead Mahatma Gandhi launches civil disobedience campaign against British rule

1930: Poet Allama Iqbal advocates establishment of separate Muslim state

1930s: Mistrust increases between Muslim League and Congress

1933: Cambridge student Rahmatullah Chowdhry coins name “Pakistan” – Urdu for “Land of the Pure”

1940: Muslim League leader Mohammed Ali Jinnah calls for separate Muslim state

1946, Jul: Cabinet Mission Plan – British proposal for Hindus and Muslims to work together within united India – collapses

Aug: Bloodiest Hindu-Muslim violence in nearly 100 years kills 5,000 people in Calcutta, convincing Britain that partition is inevitable

1947, Jun: Partition plan of British viceroy Lord Mountbatten accepted by Jinnah and Congress leader Jawaharlal Nehru

Jul: British Parliament passes Indian Independence Act, ordering demarcation of dominions of India and Pakistan by midnight Aug 14-15

Aug 14-15: Separate states born – secular but Hindu-dominated India and Muslim-majority Pakistan


Gandhi: Opposed partition

Jinnah: First Governor General of Pakistan

Nehru: First Prime Minister of independent India


PAKISTAN
1947: Dominion of Pakistan created. Became world’s first Islamic Republic in 1956

Karachi
Islamabad
Kashmir: Status remains unresolved
Delhi
Punjab: Region cut in two by new border

INDIA
1947: Dominion (or Union) of India created. Renamed Republic of India in 1950

Kolkata (Calcutta)

PAKISTAN: Province of East Pakistan gains independence as Bangladesh in 1971

400km 250 miles

MUSLIM POPULATION AS % OF TOTAL (1947)
Over 60% 
20-60% 
0-20%


POPULATION EXCHANGE*

Muslims to Pakistan from India: 7,226,000

Hindus and Sikhs to India from Pakistan: 7,249,000

TOTAL: 14,475,000
Deaths: 1-2 million


*Based on 1951 census


Sources: BBC, Emory University, Columbia University
Pictures: Newscom, Elliott & Fry
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