Indian Independence

Since the 1700s, the Indian subcontinent was a colony, first under the control of the British East India Company, and then under the direct control of Great Britain. The movement for independence in the colony formally began with the founding of the Indian National Congress in 1885. Progress towards the goal accelerated considerably under the leadership of Mohandas Gandhi. Gandhi attempted to unite the Muslims and Hindus in their protest against British rule. His main methods of protesting were through civil disobedience and passive resistance. As a result of his leadership and British policies, India, Pakistan, Ceylon and Burma all became independent in 1947.

The British drew up the borders of Pakistan and India to create separate Muslim and Hindu countries. Pakistan (formerly West Pakistan) and Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan) contained the Muslim population. In addition, Sri Lanka formed on the island formerly known as Ceylon. The Republic of India is a Hindu-dominated country, and is the world’s largest democratic nation.

After Gandhi's assassination, Jawaharlal Nehru, his close associate, became the first prime minister of India. He supported western-style industrialization and, under his leadership, the 1950 Constitution sought to prohibit caste discrimination. Ethnic and religious differences have continued to cause problems in the development of India as a democratic nation and tensions are still prevalent between India and Pakistan. However, the new economic development has helped to ease the financial problems of the nation.