Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
parent simplicity of its design belies a complex situation, both on the map and on the ground.
A range of historical, religious and territorial factors meant that the area of India previously
administered by the British became two states - India and Pakistan - but three land masses.
The western and eastern portions of Pakistan were separated by 1,000 miles. The human and
administrative difficulties of this transfer of power were enormous.
There were over 500 Princely States in this area that had enjoyed a quasi-independent
status under British rule. At partition, each was given a choice: to join India or Pakistan
(which most did) or to remain independent. Hyderabad, the largest and most prosperous of
these states, had been ruled from 1724 by an hereditary prince, the Nizam. As the map shows,
its location was in the centre of the new Union of India, and it was this that would doom its
continued separate identity. The Muslim Nizam, head of a mainly Hindu population, aimed
to keep his domain but, aware of the threat from Hindu India, appealed for external help.
This map was made to brief the Commonwealth Affairs Committee of the British Cabinet
on the whole question of the remaining Princely States, especially Hyderabad. It gives an
insight into the work of the Foreign Office Research Department in preparing briefing doc-
uments to assist officials in their deliberations. Maps were made in-house, in international
boundary cases or complex political situations such as this one, where they swiftly conveyed
the essentials of a situation.
The map shows diagrammatically the new Dominions of India (left uncoloured) and of
Pakistan (shaded green), with Hyderabad and the few other remaining Princely States col-
oured orange-yellow to highlight their position. This makes it immediately obvious how large
and central an area Hyderabad occupied within India.
The map was filed with Foreign Office correspondence on the subject of the Princely
States over the summer and into the autumn of 1948. A wide range of factors and opinions
are discussed, especially the international aspect to this dispute between Hyderabad and In-
dia. One concern was that any attempt at annexation by India might prompt retaliatory action
by Muslim Pakistan to help the Nizam, potentially sparking war. After the death of Pakistan's
first Governor-General Muhammad Ali Jinnah on 11 September, events moved swiftly. With-
in a short time the Indian Army invaded Hyderabad, which - being completely surrounded
- surrendered. This map is thus one of the last to show Hyderabad as an independent state
before it became part of the new India.
