Modern era
British Raj
- Period
- AD 1859 – AD 1947
- Duration
- approx. 88 years
- Greatest extent
- around AD 1917
- Area (max.)
- approx. 4.9 million km²
Profile
Strength
The Indian Army: about 2.5 million volunteers served in the Second World War. Added to that came a dense network of railways and administration.
Famous figures
- Queen Victoria
- Lord Curzon
- Mahatma Gandhi
- Lord Mountbatten
Wars & battles won
- Third Anglo-Burmese War (1885)
- Contribution to victory in the First World War
Wars & battles lost
- Loss of rule: independence of India and Pakistan (1947)
Draw / disputed
- Third Anglo-Afghan War (1919)
Languages
- English
- Hindi
- Urdu
- Bangla
Period and duration
British Raj — according to the map data from AD 1859 to AD 1947, roughly 88 years. The dates refer to the time the empire is drawn as its own territory on the world map; historians sometimes date its founding and end differently.
Greatest extent
British Raj — greatest extent around AD 1917: the mapped borders then cover about 4.9 million km², roughly 3.3% of Earth's land area. The area is calculated from the border lines of the map and is therefore an approximation.
Predecessors and successors
States that ruled the same territory directly before and after:
Before (AD 1858)
After
- Republic of India
- Islamic Republic of Pakistan
- Burma
Neighbours around AD 1917
The largest states in the region at the same time:
- British Empire
- Russian Republic
- French Third Republic
- British Colonial Empire
- British Africa
- United States of America
- Portuguese Republic
- Netherlands
Learn more
- Open the world map in AD 1917 — tap the empire for a detailed description
- British Raj on Wikipedia
- All 371 empires at a glance
Borders and dates: Cliopatria / Seshat Global History Databank (CC BY 4.0). Coastlines: Natural Earth. Text: Centaurian.