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{{Main|Partition of the Punjab (1947)|Partition of Bengal (1947)}}
{{See also|Partition of British India}}
[[Image:Partition of India 1947 en.svg|thumb|400px|The regions affected by the extended [[Partition of British India]]: Green regions were all part of [[Pakistan]] by 1948, and Orange part of the [[Republic of India]]. The darker-shaded regions represent the [[Punjab Province (British India)|Punjab]] and [[Bengal Presidency|Bengal]] '''[[Province]]s Partitioned''' by the [[Radcliffe Line]]. The Grey areas represent some of the key [[Princely state]]s that were eventually integrated into Modern India and Pakistan, but others which initially became Independent are not shown respectively.]]

The '''Radcliffe Line''' became the formal [[International border]] between [[Modern India]] and Pakistan (which also included what is now [[Bangladesh]]) during the Partition of British India. The communal line divided [[Bengal]] into Indian held [[West Bengal]] and East Bengal which became East Pakistan province in 1956. The religious line was decided by the Border Commissions headed by {{Interlanguage link|Cyril Radcliffe, 1st Viscount Radcliffe|lt=Cyril Radcliffe|en|Cyril Radcliffe, 1st Viscount Radcliffe}}, who was to divide equitably {{convert|175000|sqmi|km2}} of territory with 88 million people.
The line took effect on the 17th of August in 1947 after the Partition of British India. When the Great Partition was implemented, there were some problems:

*The [[Chittagong Hill Tracts]] had a mostly [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] population, but they were given to [[East Pakistan]] (now Bangladesh).

*To counterbalance the relatively small share of [[Gurdaspur District]] awarded to Pakistan, Radcliffe attempted to instead transfer [[Ferozepur]] and [[Zira Tehsil|Zira]] [[Tehsil]]s in Muslim-Majority [[Ferozepur District]] to Pakistan. This was opposed by the [[Maharaja of Bikaner]] because Harike headworks on the confluence of the [[Sutlej River|Sutlej]] and the [[Beas River|Beas]] rivers, from where a canal originated, was the only source of water for his desert state was in Ferozepur District. It was only after he threatened [[Lord Louis Mountbatten]], that he would accede his princely state to Pakistan if Ferozepur was awarded to [[West Punjab]] province, that the award was changed at the last minute and all of Ferozepur District was transferred to [[East Punjab]] instead within the Republic of India.

*The Gurdaspur District was mostly Muslim, but this too was given to [[Hindu India]].

*Sometimes the boundary line divided [[village]]s, so one part of the village was in each [[country]]. At other instances, it went through [[houses]], different [[room]]s of the same house were in different [[countries]].

The '''Radcliffe commission''' had no power to divide the territory of the [[Princely states of British India]]. Only [[Kashmir Region]] was divided in 1949 by UN Ceasefire Line.

==Related pages==
* [[Punjab (India)]]
* [[Bengal (India)]]

[[Category:Borders of Pakistan]]
[[Category:Borders of India]]
[[Category:History of East Pakistan| ]]
[[Category:Geography of Bangladesh]]
[[Category:Pakistan Movement]]
[[Category:Partition of British India| ]]
[[Category:British India| ]]

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