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Partition of India

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The division of British India into the independent states of India and Pakistan, enacted by the Indian Independence Act and taking effect on 14 and 15 August 1947. Driven by the Muslim League's demand under Mohammed Ali Jinnah for a separate Muslim majority state, the partition drew new borders, the Radcliffe Line, that split the provinces of Punjab and Bengal and triggered one of the largest and most violent mass migrations in history, displacing an estimated fifteen million people and killing hundreds of thousands to over a million in the communal violence that followed.

Facts
Year
1947 1
Location
British India, divided along the Radcliffe Line into the new dominions of India and Pakistan, the latter including the noncontiguous East Pakistan that later became Bangladesh. 1
Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

India, Countries

This source names India directly: "The division of British India into the independent states of India and Pakistan, enacted by the Indian Independence Act and taking effect on 14 and 15 August 1947."

Decisive Moment Of

Influenced By

The Muslim League's demand for a separate state, made within the wider independence movement, shaped the terms on which Britain granted independence in 1947.

Sources
1. Partition of India (Britannica)
Encyclopaedia BritannicaView the Source
Partition of India (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationLead section, opening paragraph
Quote, Lead section, opening paragraph
The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan.
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