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Provinces of India
By the mid-19th century, the provinces comprised over half of the area of India and 60 percent of the Indian population. The provincial governments were headed by Governors, Lieutenant-governors, High Commissioners, Commissioners, or Administrators appointed by the Governor-general of India. The remaining area of India was made up of princely states, which were ruled by Indian rulers, or princes, who had accepted British suzerainty in return for limited autonomy.
Provinces of British IndiaEstablished by the East India Company (1600–1765)
European coastal trading settlements in India, 1501–1739.
The East India Company, which was incorporated on December 31, 1600, established trade relations with Indian rulers in Masulipatam on the east coast in 1611 and Surat on the west coast in 1612.[1] The company rented a trading outpost in Madras in 1639.[1] The company rented a trading outpost in Madras in 1639.[1] Bombay, which was ceded to the British Crown by Portugal as part of the wedding dowry of Catherine of Braganza in 1661, was in turn granted to the East India Company to be held in trust for the Crown.[1] 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.[1] Almost a half-century later, after Emperor Aurengzeb forced the Company out of Hooghly, Calcutta was founded by Job Charnock in 1686.[1] By the mid-eighteenth century the three principal trading settlements, now called the Madras Presidency (or the Presidency of Fort St. George), the Bombay Presidency, and the Bengal Presidency (or the Presidency of Fort William) were each administered by a Governor.[2] Established or expanded during Company rule in India (1765–1858)
A map showing British expansion in India between 1805 and 1910. Most of this expansion occurred between 1805 and 1856. 
A 1909 map of the Madras Presidency, southern portion. The presidency was greatly expanded during Company rule in India 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.[3] However, after the invasion of Bengal by the Nawab of Oudh 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, Orissa and Bihar.[3] In 1772, the Company also obtained the Niz?mat of Bengal (the "exercise of criminal jurisdiction") and thereby full sovereignty of the expanded Bengal Presidency.[3] 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 to the Bombay Presidency.[4] Next, in 1799, after the defeat of Tipu Sultan in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War a large part of his territory was annexed to the Madras Presidency.[4] 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.[5]
Established or expanded during the British Raj (1858–1947)
A 1909 map of the Central Provinces and Berar, showing the districts, divisions, and princely states under the authority of the province, as well as the 1905 changes to the eastern boundary. The province was created in the early years of the British Raj.
Provinces of India in 1909Major ProvincesAt 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):[6] During the partition of Bengal (1905–1911), a new province, Assam and East Bengal was created as a Lieutenant-Governorship. In 1911, East Bengal was reunited with Bengal, and the new provinces in the east became: Assam, Bengal, Bihar and Orissa.[6]
Minor ProvincesIn addition, there were a few minor provinces that were administered by a Chief Commissioner:[7]
Provinces at independence, 1947At Independence in 1947, British India had seventeen provinces:
Upon the Partition of India into Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan, twelve provinces (Ajmer-Merwara-Kekri, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Assam, Bihar, Bombay, Central Provinces and Berar, Coorg, Delhi, Madras, Panth-Piploda, Orissa, and the United Provinces) became provinces within India, three (Baluchistan, North-West Frontier, and Sindh) within Pakistan, and two (Bengal and Punjab) were partitioned between India and Pakistan. In 1950, after the new 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 Pakistan became the independent nation of Bangladesh in 1971. Notes
References
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