Remembering Partition and Independence, 77 Years On

At the midnight hour between August 14 and August 15 in 1947, the British partitioned the Indian subcontinent into India and Pakistan. Pakistan at the time consisted of West Pakistan and East Pakistan, which later became independent Bangladesh in 1971. Pakistan celebrates its Independence Day on August 14 and India on August 15.

When the British granted India independence, Sir Cyril Radcliffe, a British lawyer who had never been east of Paris, drew the borders that divided the subcontinent along religious lines. The northwest and northeast went to Muslim-majority Pakistan. Secular India got the central and southern lands. Partition became the largest forced migration in history, with as many as 20 million relocating. The communal violence before, during, and after left millions dead. And thousands, if not tens or hundreds of thousands, remain missing or lost.

Today, we bring you a roundup of 15 stories on Partition and independence. Dive into our readers’ memories of the event, how Partition shaped the history of one of South Asia’s favorite drinks, the roots of the Western obsession with borders, and how the lines drawn in 1947 couldn’t hold back one Bengali antiseptic cream.