United Provinces of Agra and Oudh
United Provinces of Agra and Oudh | |||||||||
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Province of British India | |||||||||
1902–1937 | |||||||||
Allahabad | |||||||||
History | |||||||||
• Established | 1902 | ||||||||
• Disestablished | 1937 | ||||||||
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Today part of | Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand |
The United Provinces of Agra and Oudh was a province of India under the British Raj, which existed from 22 March 1902 to 1937; the official name was shortened by the Government of India Act 1935 to United Provinces (UP), by which the province had been commonly known, and by which name it was also a province of independent India until 1950.[1]
It corresponded approximately to the present-day Indian
Lucknow became its capital some time after 1921. Nainital was the summer capital of the province.[citation needed]
History
By the 18th century, the once vast Mughal Empire was collapsing, undone by internal dissension and by expansion of the Marathas from the Deccan, the British from Bengal, and the Afghans from Afghanistan. By the middle of the century, present-day Uttar Pradesh was divided between several states: Oudh in the centre and east, ruled by a Nawab who owed allegiance to the Mughal Emperor but was de facto independent; Rohilkhand in the north, ruled by Afghans; the Marathas, who controlled the Bundelkhand region in the south, and the Mughal Empire, which controlled the entire Doab (the tongue of land between the Ganges and Yamuna rivers) as well as the Delhi region.
In 1765, the combined forces of Awadh and the Mughal Emperor met the British at the
Subsequently, no great change took place until the arrival of
The North-Western Provinces included the Delhi and
In 1877 the offices of Lieutenant-Governor of the North-Western Provinces and Chief Commissioner of Oudh were combined in the same person; the formula was common in British imperial administration, and was known as 'double-hatting'. In 1902, when the new name of United Provinces of Agra and Oudh was introduced, the title of chief commissioner was dropped, though Oudh still retained some marks of its former independence. In 1935, the official name of the province was shortened to the United Provinces (UP).[1]
The United Provinces became a province of the newly independent
Geography
The provinces were bounded on the north by Tibet, and on the north-east by Nepal; on the east and south-east by the Champaran, Saran, Shahabad, and Palamau Districts of Bengal; on the south by two of the Chota Nagpur States in the Central Provinces, Rewah and some small States in the Central India kanpur technical augor District in the Central Provinces; on the west by the States of Gwalior, Dholpur, and Bharatpur, the Districts of Gurgaon, Delhi, Karnal, and Ambala in the Punjab, and the Punjab States of Sirmur and Jubbal. The Jumna river formed part of the western boundary, the Ganges part of the southern, and the Gandak part of the eastern; other boundaries are artificial. According to the District surveys the areas of the two Provinces are, in square miles: Agra, 83,198;
Administrative divisions
The United Provinces of Agra and Oudh included 10 divisions with 48 districts.
- Meerut Division
- Meerut District
- Dehra Dun District
- Saharanpur District
- Muzaffarnagar District
- Bulandshahr District
- Aligarh District
- Agra Division
- Muttra District(Mathura)
- Agra District
- Farrukhabad District
- Mainpuri District
- Etawah District
- Etah District
- Rohilkhand Division
- Bijnaur District(Bijnor)
- Moradabad District
- Budaun District
- Bareilly District
- Shahjahanpur District
- Pilibhit District
- Allahabad Division
- Cawnpore District (Kanpur)
- Fatehpur District
- Banda District
- Allahabad Division
- Hamirpur District
- Jhansi District
- Benares Division
- Mirzapur District
- Benares District
- Jaunpur District
- Ghazipur District
- Ballia District
- Gorakhpur Division
- Azamgarh District
- Gorakhpur District
- Basti District
- Kumaun Division
- Almora District
- Naini Tal District
- Garhwal District
- Lucknow Division
- Lucknow District
- Unao District(Unnao)
- Rae Bareli District
- Hardoi District
- Sitapur District
- Kheri District
- Faizabad Division
- Faizabad District
- Bahraich District
- Gonda District
- Sultanpur District
- Bara Banki District
- Partabgarh District
Princely states
Dyarchy (1920–37)
The Government of India Act 1919 expanded the United Provinces Legislative Council to 123 seats, including more elected Indian members. The reforms also introduced the principle of diarchy, whereby certain responsibilities such as agriculture, health, education, and local government, were transferred to elected ministers. However, the important portfolios like finance, police and irrigation were reserved with members of the Governor's Executive Council. Some of the prominent members and ministers in the United Provinces were Mohammad Ali Mohammad Khan (Home Member), C. Y. Chintamani (Minister of Education and Industries) and Jagat Narain Mulla (Minister of Local & Self Government).[3]
See also
- List of Governors of the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh
References
- ^ a b c Paxton, John (1988), "Uttar Pradesh", The Statesman's Year-Book Historical Companion, Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 138–139,
In 1902 the name 'United Provinces of Agra and Oudh' came into use, shorted to 'United Provinces' in 1935. After independence the territory was enlarged by the addition of the small states of Rampur, Banaras and Tehri-Garhwal. In 1950 the Provinces became the state of Uttar Pradesh.
- ^ "Imperial Gazetteer2 of India, Volume 24, page 133 -- Imperial Gazetteer of India -- Digital South Asia Library". dsal.uchicago.edu. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
- ISBN 9788179752616.
Further reading
- Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 27 (11th ed.). 1911. pp. 609–612. .
- Collier's New Encyclopedia. 1921. .