Figure 8.15: Independence and Partition. India became independent of Britain in 1947, and by 1948, the old territory of British India was partitioned into the independent states of India and East and West Pakistan. The Jammu and Kashmir region was contested space, and remains so today. Sikkim went to India, and both Burma and Sri Lanka became independent. Following additional civil strife, East Pakistan became the independent country of Bangladesh in 1971.

[Source consulted: National Geographic, May 1997, p. 18]