History of Indian independence

History: India

From founding UN membership as British India in 1945 to independence under the Indian Independence Act, 1947.

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Published

24 September 2026

Status verified as of

18 September 2026

Independence

The Indian Independence Act, 1947 received Royal Assent on 18 July 1947. Section 1(1) provided that "two independent Dominions shall be set up in India, to be known respectively as India and Pakistan" with effect from 15 August 1947, "the appointed day."[2]

15 August 1947 · Declaration

Independence of India, 1947

The Indian Independence Act, 1947, enacted by the UK Parliament, established India and Pakistan as two independent dominions with effect from 15 August 1947.

Partition

Independence was accompanied by the Partition of British India along religious lines into India and Pakistan, with a boundary drawn by the Radcliffe Line commission. Estimates vary substantially: population displacement is commonly put at roughly 10 to 20 million people, and communal violence deaths are variously estimated from approximately 200,000 to 2 million.[3]

15 August 1947 · Administrative change

Partition of British India, 1947

British India was partitioned along religious lines into India and Pakistan, accompanied by a boundary drawn by the Radcliffe Line commission and mass displacement and communal violence whose scale is estimated only within a wide range.

Integration of the princely states

Between 1947 and 1949, over 500 princely states acceded to the Indian Union. Junagadh and Hyderabad were annexed by India in 1948 after their rulers initially resisted accession.[4] The Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir signed an Instrument of Accession to India on 26 October 1947 amid fighting between Indian and Pakistani-backed forces in the region.[5]

1947–1949 · Administrative change

Integration of the princely states, 1947-1949

Over 500 princely states acceded to the Indian Union between 1947 and 1949, including the contested cases of Junagadh, Hyderabad, and Jammu and Kashmir.

Transition to a republic

The Constituent Assembly adopted the Constitution of India on 26 November 1949, and it came into force on 26 January 1950, when India became a republic within the Commonwealth.[6]

26 January 1950 · Constitutional change

India becomes a republic, 1950

The Constitution of India, adopted by the Constituent Assembly in November 1949, came into force on 26 January 1950, making India a republic within the Commonwealth.

Sources for this page

Each number marks a specific claim. Notes give the source, its locator and how it relates to the claim.

Claim: British India signed the UN Charter on 26 June 1945 and ratified it on 30 October 1945, making it one of the 51 founding members of the United Nations, more than two years before India's own independence in 1947.

United Nations Dag Hammarskjöld Library, Founding Members of the United Nations (United Nations) link, founding members table. Source record

Claim: The Indian Independence Act, 1947, given Royal Assent on 18 July 1947, provided in Section 1(1): "As from the fifteenth day of August, nineteen hundred and forty-seven, two independent Dominions shall be set up in India, to be known respectively as India and Pakistan." Section 1(2) designated that date "the appointed day."

Parliament of the United Kingdom, Indian Independence Act, 1947 (10 & 11 Geo. 6, c. 30) (18 July 1947) link, Section 1. Government perspective or primary official source Source record

Claim: British India was partitioned along religious lines into India and Pakistan at independence in August 1947, with the boundary drawn by a commission chaired by Cyril Radcliffe. Estimates vary substantially by source: population displacement is commonly estimated at between roughly 10 and 20 million people, and communal violence deaths are variously estimated from approximately 200,000 to 2 million.

Partition of India (Wikipedia) link, article text. Source record Consulted via a general-reference encyclopedia article summarising multiple scholarly estimates, not a single primary demographic study.

Claim: Over 500 princely states acceded to the Indian Union between 1947 and 1949. Junagadh was annexed by India in 1948 following a plebiscite India organised after the ruler had acceded to Pakistan; Hyderabad was annexed by India in September 1948 through military action known as Operation Polo.

Political integration of India (Wikipedia) link, article text. Source record Consulted via a general-reference encyclopedia article, not primary government or judicial records.

Claim: The Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, Hari Singh, signed an Instrument of Accession to India on 26 October 1947, amid the outbreak of fighting between Indian and Pakistani-backed forces in the region; the accession's validity and the broader status of Kashmir remain disputed between India and Pakistan.

Instrument of Accession (Jammu and Kashmir) (Wikipedia) link, article text. Source record Consulted via a general-reference encyclopedia article, not the Instrument of Accession's original text or primary diplomatic records; this bundle does not adjudicate the ongoing Kashmir dispute.

Claim: The Constituent Assembly of India adopted the Constitution of India on 26 November 1949, and it came into force on 26 January 1950, at which point India became a republic within the Commonwealth.

Constitution of India (Wikipedia) link, article text. Source record Consulted via a general-reference encyclopedia article, not the Constitution's own text.