British Raj (meaning British rule in Hindi) is also called British India, officially British Indian Empire, and internationally and contemporaneously, India, is the term used for the region and rule between 1858 and 1947 of the British Empire on the Indian subcontinents. It encompassed the present-day (2021) countries of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and parts of Myanmar (Burma). The rule is also called “Crown rule in India” or “Direct rule in India”. It included areas directly administered by the United Kingdom, which were called British India; and areas ruled by indigenous rulers, but under British tutelage, called the “princely states”. Sometimes it was also called the Indian Empire.

Prior to 1858, Britain’s interests and possessions in India has been administered by the British East India Company. This was officially a commercial enterprise chartered by the Government, that acted as an agent of the Moghul Empire. After the First War of Indian Independence in 1858, called the Mutiny, the British government assumed responsibility for ruling its Indian territories. The princely states, of which all entered treaty arrangements with the British Crown, brought whole India within the Empire. They still were allowed a degree of local autonomy in exchange for accepting protection and complete representation in international affairs by the UK.

Known as the “Jewel in the Crown” of the British Empire, India was over the years a source of wealth for Britain. Profitability declined in the years before the independence. On the other hand, railway, transport, and communication systems were built that helped to knit India into a whole. The movement Indian National Congress was led by the class of Indians that the British education system had produced, who read in English literature about the concepts of fair-play, justice, and Parliaments. These students observed that the British seemed to leave the values of democracy at home when they arrived in India.

From 1876, Queen Victoria no longer ruled this colony as Queen of the United Kingdom and British Empire. She assumed the title of Empress of India. She did not rule herself, a viceroy acted as her deputy. This made use of the power of Indian nobility, like the rajas and maharajas. The British succeeded in gaining control of India, whose population was times larger than that of the UK. The native princes were assisted and monitored by British government officials.

British Raj was partitioned in two separated states in 1947: The Dominion of India and the Dominion of Pakistan.