The division of British India into the independent states of India and Pakistan, enacted by the Indian Independence Act and taking effect on 14 and 15 August 1947. Driven by the Muslim League's demand under Mohammed Ali Jinnah for a separate Muslim majority state, the partition drew new borders, the Radcliffe Line, that split the provinces of Punjab and Bengal and triggered one of the largest and most violent mass migrations in history, displacing an estimated fifteen million people and killing hundreds of thousands to over a million in the communal violence that followed.
Facts
Event DateBritannica: the Indian Independence Act passed 18 July 1947 and set the partition to take effect on 15 August; India dates independence to 15 August, Pakistan to 14 August. LocationBritish India, divided along the Radcliffe Line into the new dominions of India and Pakistan, the latter including the noncontiguous East Pakistan that later became Bangladesh. 1 Connections
Associated With
This source names India directly: "The division of British India into the independent states of India and Pakistan, enacted by the Indian Independence Act and taking effect on 14 and 15 August 1947."
Source Partition of India (Britannica)
Decisive Moment Of
Source Partition of India (Britannica)
Influenced By
The Muslim League's demand for a separate state, made within the wider independence movement, shaped the terms on which Britain granted independence in 1947.
Source Partition of India (Britannica)
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Sources
1. Partition of India (Britannica)
Encyclopaedia BritannicaLead paragraph
partition of India, division of British India into the independent countries of India and Pakistan according to the Indian Independence Act passed by the British Parliament on July 18, 1947. Set to take effect on August 15, the rapid partition led to a population transfer of unprecedented magnitude, accompanied by devastating communal violence, as some 15,000,000 Hindus, Sikhs, and Muslims rushed to cross the hastily demarcated borders before the partition would be complete.
- Decisive Moment Of: Indian Independence Movement
- Influenced By: Indian Independence Movement
View the Source Partition of India (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationLead section, opening paragraph
The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan.
In Group: Independence, Partition and Dissolution of States, Lead paragraph
the division of British India into two independent dominion states
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