Partition of India
August 15, 1947 · 20th Century
On August 14-15, 1947, British rule in India ended with the creation of two independent dominions: India and Pakistan. The Indian Independence Act, passed by the British Parliament on July 18, 1947, authorized the partition. British lawyer Cyril Radcliffe, who had never visited India, chaired the boundary commissions that drew the borders dividing Punjab and Bengal. The boundary was published on August 17, two days after independence. An estimated 15 million people crossed the new borders, and between one and two million died in communal violence during the migrations.
Key Figures
Lord Louis MountbattenJawaharlal NehruMuhammad Ali JinnahMahatma Gandhi
Locations
New DelhiKarachiLahore
Topics
PartitionpakistanBritish RajIndia
Connected Events — 3 Connections
Britain traumatic withdrawal from India in August 1947 directly informed its decision to hand the Palestine question to the UN leading to Resolution 181 four months later UN General Assembly Votes to Partition Palestine
Postwar international order and self-determination principles established by the UN created the framework within which Britain accelerated Indian decolonization United Nations Founded
The Salt March catalyzed the mass independence movement that culminated in Indian independence and partition 17 years later Gandhi Leads the Salt March to Dandi
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