Polity · 1859 CE – 1947 CE
British Raj
- Peak recorded area
- 4,938,920 km²
- 1917 CE
- Rulers on record
- 13
- from 1805 CE
- Data series
- 226
- 1859 CE–1947 CE
Overview
The British Raj was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent, lasting from 1858 to 1947. It is also called Crown rule in India, or direct rule in India. The region under British control was commonly called India in contemporaneous usage and included areas directly administered by the United Kingdom, which were collectively called British India, and areas ruled by indigenous rulers, but under British paramountcy, called the princely states.
Lead section from Wikipedia, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article.
Territory
45 dated territorial extents on record from Cliopatria. Areas are measured off the recorded polygons; the line steps because each extent holds until the next one is recorded — nothing is interpolated. CShapes 2.0 holds 6 further extents, measured on a different basis and deliberately not merged into this series.
The record
The best-attested series in each category; where several projects publish the same quantity, the one with the most observations is shown. Each row is the most recent value the record holds at or before 1947 CE, shown with the year that value belongs to. Some statistical series also publish forward projections — the year column is the honest guide. Nothing on this page is interpolated or estimated by us.
People
6 of 176 series| Series | Value · year · source |
|---|---|
| Population132 obs · 1 CE–1946 CE | 415.2Mpersons1946 CE · Maddison Project Database 2023 |
| Urban Population89 obs · 1859 CE–1947 CE | 18.8Mpersons1947 CE · Correlates of War NMC v6.0 |
| City Pop Mumbai20 obs · 1661 CE–1925 CE | 1.2Mpersons1925 CE · Chandler/Modelski Historical Urban Population |
| City Pop Delhi15 obs · 1666 CE–1925 CE | 375Kpersons1925 CE · Chandler/Modelski Historical Urban Population |
| City Pop Hyderabad13 obs · 1750 CE–1925 CE | 429Kpersons1925 CE · Chandler/Modelski Historical Urban Population |
| City Pop Madras13 obs · 1700 CE–1925 CE | 575Kpersons1925 CE · Chandler/Modelski Historical Urban Population |
Economy
6 of 15 series| Series | Value · year · source |
|---|---|
| GDP per capita PPP147 obs · 1800 CE–1946 CE | 845int'l $ (inflation adj.)1946 CE · Gapminder |
| GDP per capita99 obs · 1600 CE–1946 CE | 9912011 int'l $1946 CE · Maddison Project Database 2023 |
| Real Wage77 obs · 1870 CE–1946 CE | 4.72index (1500=1)1946 CE · Clio-Infra |
| Total Exports52 obs · 1870 CE–1921 CE | 2,705.93million USD (current)1921 CE · CoW Bilateral Trade v4.0 |
| Total Imports52 obs · 1870 CE–1921 CE | 3,768.28million USD (current)1921 CE · CoW Bilateral Trade v4.0 |
| Trade Balance52 obs · 1870 CE–1921 CE | -1,062.36million USD (current)1921 CE · CoW Bilateral Trade v4.0 |
Military
6 of 10 series| Series | Value · year · source |
|---|---|
| CINC Score89 obs · 1859 CE–1947 CE | 0.0912CINC (share of world capability)1947 CE · Correlates of War NMC v6.0 |
| Energy Consumption89 obs · 1859 CE–1947 CE | 223.7Mcoal-ton equivalents1947 CE · Correlates of War NMC v6.0 |
| Iron Steel Production89 obs · 1859 CE–1947 CE | 12.9Mtons1947 CE · Correlates of War NMC v6.0 |
| Military Personnel88 obs · 1859 CE–1947 CE | 1.3Mpersons1947 CE · Correlates of War NMC v6.0 |
| Military Expenditure GBP55 obs · 1859 CE–1913 CE | 67.7Mcurrent GBP1913 CE · Correlates of War NMC v6.0 |
| Military Expenditure34 obs · 1914 CE–1947 CE | 6.7Bcurrent USD1947 CE · Correlates of War NMC v6.0 |
Territory & resources
| Series | Value · year · source |
|---|---|
| Coal Production47 obs · 1900 CE–1946 CE | 186.8TWh1946 CE · Our World in Data Energy |
| Gas Production47 obs · 1900 CE–1946 CE | 0TWh1946 CE · Our World in Data Energy |
| Oil Production47 obs · 1900 CE–1946 CE | 3.41TWh1946 CE · Our World in Data Energy |
Governance
6 of 7 series| Series | Value · year · source |
|---|---|
| Electoral Democracy Index158 obs · 1789 CE–1946 CE | 0.21index (0-1)1946 CE · V-Dem v15 |
| Liberal Democracy Index158 obs · 1789 CE–1946 CE | 0.167index (0-1)1946 CE · V-Dem v15 |
| Participatory Democracy Index158 obs · 1789 CE–1946 CE | 0.106index (0-1)1946 CE · V-Dem v15 |
| Rule Of Law Index158 obs · 1789 CE–1946 CE | 0.845index (0-1)1946 CE · V-Dem v15 |
| Regime Type47 obs · 1900 CE–1946 CE | 1RoW index (0-3)1946 CE · V-Dem v15 |
| Jurisdictional Hierarchy9 obs · 1870 CE–1945 CE | 5ordinal1945 CE · D-PLACE Ethnographic Atlas (Murdock) |
Development
6 of 15 series| Series | Value · year · source |
|---|---|
| Freedom Of Expression Index158 obs · 1789 CE–1946 CE | 0.425index (0-1)1946 CE · V-Dem v15 |
| Tech Railway Line Km94 obs · 1853 CE–1946 CE | 65.2Kkm1946 CE · CHAT (Comin-Hobijn) |
| Tech Mail Items91 obs · 1853 CE–1946 CE | 2,263items1946 CE · CHAT (Comin-Hobijn) |
| Tech Telegraph81 obs · 1866 CE–1946 CE | 30.18count1946 CE · CHAT (Comin-Hobijn) |
| Tech Railway Freight Tkm58 obs · 1889 CE–1946 CE | 44.1Ktonne-km1946 CE · CHAT (Comin-Hobijn) |
| Tech Merchant Shipping Tonnage51 obs · 1889 CE–1939 CE | 247gross tons1939 CE · CHAT (Comin-Hobijn) |
Rulers
13 on record with dated reigns. Reign years follow the house convention: BCE years are negative.
- Randhir Singh of BharatpurMaharaja of Bharatpur1805 CE – 1823 CE
- Baldeo SinghMaharaja of Bharatpur1823 CE – 1825 CE
- Balwant Singh of BharatpurMaharaja of Bharatpur1825 CE – 1853 CE
- Jaswant Singh of BharatpurMaharaja of Bharatpur1853 CE – 1893 CE
- VictoriaEmperor of India1876 CE – 1901 CE
- Ram Singh of BharatpurMaharaja of Bharatpur1893 CE – 1900 CE
- Girraj KaurMaharaja of Bharatpur1900 CE – 1918 CE
- Edward VIIEmperor of India1901 CE – 1910 CE
- George VEmperor of India1910 CE – 1936 CE
- Kishan Singh of BharatpurMaharaja of Bharatpur1918 CE – 1929 CE
- Brijendra Singh I of BharatpurMaharaja of Bharatpur1929 CE – 1947 CE
- Edward VIIIEmperor of India1936 CE
- George VIEmperor of India1936 CE – 1948 CE
Language & currency
- Official & national languages
- English
- Currency
- Indian rupee (INR)
Sources
Every figure above comes from one of these. Nothing on this page is estimated, interpolated or model-generated.
Chandler/Modelski Historical Urban PopulationChandler 1987 / Modelski 2003
Chandler, T. (1987). Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth; Modelski, G. (2003). World Cities: -3000 to 2000.
Compiled from published works (Chandler 1987; Modelski 2003)
CHAT (Comin-Hobijn)2009 (FinalCHAT_72909)
Comin, D. & Hobijn, B. (2009). The CHAT Dataset. NBER Working Paper 15319.
NBER research data, freely downloadable
Clio-Infra2017 datasets
Clio-Infra project (2017). Reconstructions of global inequality and well-being. International Institute of Social History.
Academic use, attribution
Seshat Global History Databank. Cliopatria: a historical basemap of polity borders (cliopatria.geojson).
Correlates of War NMC v6.0v6.0
Singer, J.D. (1987). National Material Capabilities Data (NMC), v6.0. Correlates of War Project.
Free academic use, citation
Barbieri, K. & Keshk, O. (2016). Correlates of War Project Trade Data Set, v4.0.
Free academic use, citation
D-PLACE Ethnographic Atlas (Murdock)Ethnographic Atlas (D-PLACE 2.3)
Kirby, K.R. et al. (2016). D-PLACE: A Global Database of Cultural, Linguistic and Environmental Diversity. PLoS ONE 11(7).
CC BY 4.0
Gapminderv14 / systema globalis
Gapminder Foundation. Gapminder systema globalis dataset.
CC BY 4.0
Maddison Project Database 20232023
Bolt, J. & van Zanden, J.L. (2024). Maddison Project Database 2023. University of Groningen GGDC.
CC BY 4.0
Our World in Data (2024). Energy dataset. Based on Energy Institute & Ember.
CC BY 4.0
V-Dem v15v15
Coppedge, M. et al. (2025). V-Dem Country-Year Dataset v15. Varieties of Democracy Project.
Free academic/non-commercial use, attribution
Wikipedia contributors. Article lead sections, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0.
CC BY-SA 4.0
British Raj is one of the polities with a sourced record deep enough to publish.