Punjab States Agency

Punjab States Agency पंजाब, پنجاب
British Residency
← 1933–1947 →   →
Coat of arms
Map of the British Punjab in 1909.
Historical era		New Imperialism
•	Established	1933
•	British withdrawal from India	1947
Area
•	1921	86,430 km2 (33,371 sq mi)
Population
•	1921	465,493
	Density	5.4 /km2  (13.9 /sq mi)
Today part of		Punjab, India

The Punjab States Agency was a political office of the British Indian Empire. The agency was created in the 1930s, on the model of the Central India Agency and Rajputana Agency, and dealt with forty princely states in northwest India formerly dealt with by the British province of the Punjab.^[1][2][3]

After 1947, most of the states chose to accede to the Union of India, the rest to the Dominion of Pakistan.

History

The princely states had come under the suzerainty of the British crown after the Anglo-Nepalese War of 1814–16 and went on to be known as the Punjab Native States and the Simla Hill States. They later came into direct diplomatic relations with the British province of Punjab, with the exception of Tehri Garhwal State, which had a connection instead with the United Provinces.^[4]

The Punjab States Agency was established in 1933 out of the previous Punjab Native States, which had received advice from the Lieutenant Governor of Punjab Province, and the Simla Hill States, advised by the Deputy Commissioner of Simla district.^[5] The agency was created under the direct authority of the Governor General of India, with its headquarters in Shimla.^[6]

After Indian Independence in 1947, the states all acceded to the new Dominion of India, most of them later becoming part of the new state of Himachal Pradesh, with Tehri Garhwal State becoming part of Uttar Pradesh. In 2000, the northern portion of Uttar Pradesh, including the former state of Tehri-Garhwal, became the new state of Uttarakhand.

Princely states

See also

• Political integration of India

References

Coordinates: 30°6′N 77°10′E / 30.100°N 77.167°E / 30.100; 77.167