How the British split India

With the end of British colonial rule in 1947, the Indian

subcontinent was divided into two nations, majority-

Hindu India and majority-Muslim Pakistan. The hastily

planned transition led to one of the largest refugee

crises in history.

After Partition

Colonial rule

Dividing the country by religion

proved difficult, especially in the

provinces of Punjab and Bengal,

which had near-equal Hindu and

Muslim populations. The resulting

creation of a noncontiguous Pakistan

forced millions of Hindus and

Muslims to relocate.

Before Partition, Hindus accounted

for nearly 70 percent of British

India’s population while Muslims

made up only a quarter. Although

most Muslim-majority communities

were in the north, religious groups

were dispersed throughout

the country.

Areas of contention

In the north, the Radcliffe Line stopped at Jammu and Kashmir, a princely state

that chose to remain independent after Partition. The border is still contested.

Rosemary Wardley, NG Staff.

Source: The CShapes 2.0 Dataset, Guy Schvitz and others, Journal of Conflict

Resolution, 2022

How the British split India

With the end of British colonial rule in

1947, the Indian subcontinent was

divided into two nations, majority-

Hindu India and majority-Muslim

Pakistan. The hastily planned transition

led to one of the largest refugee

crises in history.

Colonial rule

Before Partition, Hindus accounted

for nearly 70 percent of British

India’s population while Muslims

made up only a quarter. Although

most Muslim-majority communities

were in the north, religious groups

were dispersed throughout

the country.

After Partition

Dividing the country by religion

proved difficult, especially in the

provinces of Punjab and Bengal,

which had near-equal Hindu and

Muslim populations. The resulting

creation of a noncontiguous Pakistan

forced millions of Hindus and

Muslims to relocate.

Areas of contention

In the north, the Radcliffe Line

stopped at Jammu and Kashmir, a

princely state that chose to remain

independent after Partition. The

border is still contested.

Rosemary Wardley, NG Staff.

Source: The CShapes 2.0 Dataset, Guy

Schvitz and others, Journal of Conflict

Resolution, 2022