Question

Which of the following events occurred after Great Britain ended its occupation of India and partitioned off parts of the empire? *The partitioned areas became dependent Indian states. *The partitioned areas became the countries of Pakistan and, eventually, Bangladesh. *The partitioned areas rejoined India after a few years. *The partitioned areas did not gain independence, except for the nation of India.

Answer 1

After Great Britain ended its occupation of India, the partitioned areas "became the countries of Pakistan and, eventually, Bangladesh". It is important to note that the second country here is India.

Answer 2

The correct answer is: The partitioned areas became the countries of Pakistan and, eventually, Bangladesh.

The dominion of the British crown in the Indian subcontinent ended in 1947, after which the former territory of the British Raj was partitioned into the regions of India, Western Pakistan, Eastern Pakistan (Bengal), Western Bengal, and Punjab. In this context, there were violent uprisings and conflicts between religious groups that ended with the life of around 200 000 and 2 million people. 14 million Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs were displaced in what is known as the largest mass migration in the history of humanity.

Indian Muslims were organized around the political leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah and the Muslim League of India, and they believed that the Muslims of India should have their own country. This new country was labeled as Pakistan, which in Urdu means "the land of the pure." Pakistan encompassed its current territory plus Bengal, which was called Eastern Pakistan. This last region became an independent country in 1971 under the name of Bangladesh.