British Raj

The British Raj (/rɑːdʒ/ RAHJ; from Hindi rāj, 'kingdom', 'realm', 'state', or 'empire') was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; it is also called Crown rule in India, or Direct rule in India, and lasted from 1858 to 1947. The region under British control was commonly called India in contemporaneous usage and included areas directly administered by the United Kingdom, which were collectively called British India, and areas ruled by indigenous rulers, but under British paramountcy, called the princely states. The region was sometimes called the Indian Empire, though not officially.

This article is about the rule of India by the British Crown from 1858 to 1947. For the rule of the East India Company from 1757 to 1858, see Company rule in India.
For British directly-ruled administrative divisions in India, see Presidencies and provinces of British India.

India
1858–1947
Anthem: God Save the King/Queen
Political subdivisions of the British Raj, commonly India, in 1909, showing British India in two shades of pink and the Princely states in yellow
The British Raj in relation to the British Empire in 1909
StatusImperial political structure (comprising British India and the Princely States)
CapitalCalcutta
(1858–1911)
New Delhi
(1911/1931–1947)
Official languages
Demonym(s)Indians, British Indians
GovernmentBritish Colonial Government
Queen/Queen-Empress/King-Emperor 
• 1858–1876 (Queen); 1876–1901 (Queen-Empress)
Victoria
• 1901–1910
Edward VII
• 1910–1936
George V
• 1936
Edward VIII
• 1936–1947 (last)
George VI
Viceroy 
• 1858–1862 (first)
Charles Canning
• 1947 (last)
Louis Mountbatten
Secretary of State 
• 1858–1859 (first)
Edward Stanley
• 1947 (last)
William Hare
LegislatureImperial Legislative Council
History 
10 May 1857
2 August 1858
18 July 1947
took effect Midnight, 14–15 August 1947
CurrencyIndian rupee
Preceded by		Succeeded by
1858:
Mughal Empire (De jure)
Company rule in India (De facto)
1947:
Dominion of India
Dominion of Pakistan
Persian Gulf Residency
1937:
Colony of Burma
Colony of Aden
1898:
Somaliland Protectorate
1867:
Straits Settlements
  1. a quasi-federation of presidencies and provinces directly governed by the British Crown through the Viceroy and Governor-General of India
  2. governed by Indian rulers, under the suzerainty of The British Crown exercised through the Viceroy of India)
  3. Note: Simla was the summer capital of the Government of British India, not of the British Raj, i.e. the British Indian Empire, which included the Princely States.
  4. The proclamation for New Delhi to be the capital was made in 1911, but the city was inaugurated as the capital of the Raj in February 1931.
  5. English was the language of the courts and government.
  6. Urdu was also given official status in large parts of northern India, as were vernaculars elsewhere.
  7. Outside northern India, the local vernaculars were used as official language in the lower courts and in government offices.

As India, it was a founding member of the League of Nations, a participating state in the Summer Olympics in 1900, 1920, 1928, 1932, and 1936, and a founding member of the United Nations in San Francisco in 1945.

This system of governance was instituted on 28 June 1858, when, after the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the rule of the East India Company was transferred to the Crown in the person of Queen Victoria (who, in 1876, was proclaimed Empress of India). It lasted until 1947, when the British Raj was partitioned into two sovereign dominion states: the Union of India (later the Republic of India) and Pakistan (later the Islamic Republic of Pakistan). Later, the People's Republic of Bangladesh gained independence from Pakistan. At the inception of the Raj in 1858, Lower Burma was already a part of British India; Upper Burma was added in 1886, and the resulting union, Burma, was administered as an autonomous province until 1937, when it became a separate British colony, gaining its own independence in 1948. It was renamed Myanmar in 1989. The Chief Commissioner's Province of Aden was also part of British India at the inception of the British Raj, and became a separate colony known as Aden Colony in 1937 as well.

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