History of Indian States - Introduction
India's state formation journey: from 562 princely states to 28 states and 9 union territories through post-independence reorganization.
Currently India comprises a total of 28 states and 9 union territories. However the map of India in 1947 was different as compared to the Indian map in 2023. We are sure many of you wonder, how were the states formed? Did India always have 28 states? People have so many questions about Indian states and India’s territory. Well we have decided to tell you about the formation of the Indian states and its history.
During the British rule, India had three types of states:
(1) 'Territories of British India'. These were directly ruled by the British government
(2) Colonial territories of France and Portugal.
(3) 'Princely States' (kingdoms). These were controlled by the local kings. These local kings were obedient to the British
Before independence, India had 562 princely states. These princely states believed in independent governance. This was the biggest obstacle in building a strong united India. When India became independent in 1947, the newly formed Indian Government had the herculean task (very difficult work) of including all the Princely States into the Indian Union (India). Between 1947 & 1950, some Princely states were either made into new states or were attached to existing states. After the Indian independence; the princely states agreed to join India except Hyderabad, Junagadh, Bhopal and Kashmir. According to the States Reorganization Act, in 1956 the states in India were arranged on linguistic basis. Because of this new states were created.
Andhra Pradesh was created by merging Andhra State with the Telugu speaking area of Hyderabad State. Kerala state was made by merging Travancore State with the Malabar district of the Madras State. Patiala and East Punjab States were merged into Punjab. Madhya Pradesh was created with the merger of Vindhya Pradesh, Bhopal State and the Madhya Bharat province. The Mysore state was expanded as the western Hyderabad state and the Coorg state were added to it. In 1973, Mysore State was renamed as Karnataka. Hyderabad's Marathwada region, Saurashtra and Kutch and the Nagpur division of Madhya Pradesh were added to the Bombay State. Parts of Madhya Pradesh, Bombay State and the Ajmer State were added to Rajasthan. In 1973, The Laccadive, Minicoy and Amindivi islands were made a new Union territory. These were renamed as Lakshadweep. Later with the same States Reorganization Act of 1956, more states were created. Since Indian independence the boundaries of the Indian states keep on changing year by year. From 562 princely states and 17 provinces before partition, to 14 states and 6 Union Territories following the Reorganization of States in 1956 to 29 states and 7 union territories in 2014 and now after the bifurcation of Jammu & Kashmir we have 28 states and 9 Union Territories. We will soon release more information about the formation of different states in our next videos. Till then keep watching ISH Videos.
