Trace and Tell your Family's Empire Stories
Country Histories
India celebrates its Independence Day on 15 August, commemorating the end of British rule in 1947. The Raj, taken from the Hindi word for 'rule', had lasted for less than ninety years, but British influence on the subcontinent dates from the beginning of the seventeenth century.
Over the course of time this meeting of cultures has involved the movement of millions of people in both directions for a wide variety of reasons, from trade to military action, employment, education, and tourism.
Browser by chapterIn post-independence India, the princely states with majority Hindu populations were absorbed either voluntarily, or in some cases by force, within a few years. Tragically, Gandhi was assassinated in 1948 by a Hindu fanatic. In 1950 India adopted a republican constitution, and Nehru remained prime minister until his death in 1964. India has survived for 60 years as the world's largest secular democracy and is today emerging as one of the world's most rapidly growing economies.
