Partition of India facts for kids
British India in The Imperial Gazetteer of India, 1909. British India is shaded pink, the princely states yellow
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| Date | August 1947 |
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| Location | British India |
| Outcome | Partition of British India into independent India and Pakistan and refugee crises |
The Partition of India split British India into the countries of India and Pakistan in 1947. This partition was part of the end of British rule over the Indian subcontinent, called British Raj. The partition was caused in part by the Two-nation theory presented by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, due to religion issues. Pakistan became a Muslim country, and India became a mainly Hindu country. The main spokesperson for the partition was a Muslim called Muhammad Ali Jinnah. He became the first Governor-General of Pakistan.
Huge numbers of people moved across the border between the two newly formed states. The population of undivided India in 1947 was about 390 million. After partition, there were 330 million people in India, 30 million in West Pakistan, and 30 million people in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).
Once the lines were established, about 14.5 million people crossed the borders to what they hoped was the safety of their religious majority. The 1951 Census of Pakistan showed the number of displaced persons in Pakistan at 7,226,600. They were presumably Muslims who had entered Pakistan from India. Similarly, the 1951 Census of India showed 7,295,870 displaced persons, apparently all Hindus and Sikhs who had moved to India from Pakistan. The two numbers add up to 14.5 million.
The newly formed governments were unable to deal with migrations of such huge numbers of migrants. Massive violence and slaughter occurred on both sides of the border. Estimates of the number of deaths vary, with low estimates at 200,000 and high estimates at 2,000,000.
Images for kids
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British Indian Empire in The Imperial Gazetteer of India, 1909. British India is shaded pink, the princely states yellow.
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Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (seated in the carriage, on the right, eyes downcast, with black flat-top hat) receives a big welcome in Karachi in 1916 after his return to India from South Africa
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Muhammad Ali Jinnah, seated, third from the left, was a supporter of the Lucknow Pact, which, in 1916, ended the three-way rift between the Extremists, the Moderates and the League
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Jawaharlal Nehru, Sarojini Naidu, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, and Maulana Azad at the 1940 Ramgarh session of the Congress in which Azad was elected president for the second time
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Chaudhari Khaliquzzaman (left) seconding the 1940 Lahore Resolution of the All-India Muslim League with Jinnah (right) presiding, and Liaquat Ali Khan centre
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Mountbatten with a countdown calendar to the Transfer of Power in the background
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A map of the Punjab region c. 1947.
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A refugee special train at Ambala Station during the partition of India
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A crowd of Muslims at the Old Fort (Purana Qila) in Delhi, which had been converted into a vast camp for Muslim refugees waiting to be transported to Pakistan. Manchester Guardian, 27 September 1947.
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Four nations (India, Pakistan, Dominion of Ceylon, and Union of Burma) that gained independence in 1947 and 1948
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1909 percentage of Hindus.
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1909 percentage of Muslims.
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1909 percentage of Sikhs, Buddhists, and Jains.
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Gandhi in Bela, Bihar, after attacks on Muslims, 28 March 1947.
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A refugee train on its way to Punjab, Pakistan
See also
In Spanish: Partición de la India para niños
