Question

What caused the British to divide India as part of its independence?

Answer 1

The agreement to divide colonial India into two separate states - one with a Muslim majority (Pakistan) and the other with a Hindu majority (India) is commonly seen as the outcome of conflict between the nations' elites.

Answer 2

Answer: The British believed the partition would ease tensions between Muslims and Hindus.

Explanation:

The tension between Hindus and Muslims was at the center of the partition of British India. While the central and eastern regions were dominated by Hindu Indians, the west was dominated by Muslim Indians. British understood there were irreconcilable differences between them. The compromise to split colonial India into Pakistan (Muslim majority) and India (Hindu majority) was the British strategy to secure agreement over independence.