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British Raj facts for kids

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Indian Empire

1858–1947
1909 Map of the British Indian Empire, showing British India in two shades of pink and the princely states in yellow.
1909 Map of the British Indian Empire, showing British India in two shades of pink and the princely states in yellow.
Status Imperial political structure (British India, a quasi-federation of presidencies and provinces directly governed by the British Crown through the Viceroy and Governor-General of India, Princely States, governed by Indian rulers, under the suzerainty of The British Crown exercised through the Viceroy of India)
Capital Calcutta (1858–1911)
New Delhi (1911–1947)
Common languages
Religion
Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism
Government British Colonial Government
Monarch of the United Kingdom and Emperor/Empressa  
• 1858–1901
Victoria
• 1901–1910
Edward VII
• 1910–1936
George V
Viceroyb  
• 1858–1862
The 2nd Viscount Canning (first)
• 1947
The 1st Viscount Mountbatten (last)
Secretary of State  
• 1858–1859
Lord Stanley (first)
• 1947
The 5th Earl of Listowel (last)
Legislature Imperial Legislative Council
History  
23 June 1757 & 10 May 1857
2 August 1858
18 July 1947
14 and 15 August 1947
Currency Indian rupee
ISO 3166 code IN
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Company rule in India
Mughal Empire
Dominion of India
Dominion of Pakistan
  1. Title of Emperor/Empress of India existed 1876–1948
  2. Full title was "Viceroy and Governor-General of India"

The British Raj is a term: "Raj" is a word in the Hindi language which means "rule", so "British Raj" means rule by the British Empire in India. This rule ended in 1947. It was over parts of what are now five countries, the Republic of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Ceylon and Burma (now Myanmar). At that time, these countries were all part of the British Indian Empire, known at the time as the Indian Empire and sometimes called the "British Raj".

The term "British Raj" is used to talk of the direct British rule over areas which had been conquered by the British, known as British India. This includes the British influence over many independent princely states. These areas were governed by their own traditional rulers, but under the overall authority of the British crown.

Undivided India is another term which is used to mean the whole area of British rule, but it does not take in Burma, which from 1937 was a British colony on its own. The colony of Aden came under the same government in India from 1858 to 1937, and so did British Somaliland (now part of Somalia) from 1884 to 1898 and Singapore from 1858 to 1867.

The end of British rule created Pakistan. Later Bangladesh was created by Pakistan. British rule ended on 15 August 1947. Boundaries between India and Pakistan came into effect on the 18th of that month. Many people died as a result of the partition of the Indian Empire into these parts.

Jammu and Kashmir, like the other princely states, had not been under direct British rule. India and Pakistan have gone to war over this area, and it is now divided between them.

The 1861 census showed that the English population in India was 125,945. Of these only about 41,862 were civilians as compared with 84,083 European officers and men of the Army. In 1880, the standing Indian Army consisted of 66,000 British soldiers, 130,000 Natives, and 350,000 soldiers in the princely armies.

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Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Raj británico para niños

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