Contents

Ceded and Conquered Provinces

Ceded and Conquered Provinces
Region of the British Empire in India
1805–1834
Map of the Ceded and Conquered Provinces (1805). The Kumaon Division was annexed in 1816.
Capital	Agra
Area
• 1835 (?)	9,479 km2 (3,660 sq mi)
Population
• 1835 (?)	4,500,000
History
• Established	1805
• Disestablished	1834
Preceded by Succeeded by Mughal Empire Maratha Empire Agra Presidency North-Western Provinces
Today part of	Portions in Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand Delhi

The Ceded and Conquered Provinces constituted a region in northern India that was ruled by the British East India Company from 1805 to 1834;^[1] it corresponded approximately—in present-day India—to all regions in Uttar Pradesh state with the exception of the Lucknow and Faizabad divisions of Awadh; in addition, it included the Delhi territory and, after 1816, the Kumaun division and a large part^[2] of the Garhwal division of present-day Uttarakhand state.^[1] In 1836, the region became the North-Western Provinces (under a Lieutenant-Governor), and in 1904, the Agra Province within the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh.^[1]

Ceded Provinces[edit]

At the start of the 19th century, only the Benares division and the fort of Allahabad in present-day Uttar Pradesh were under British rule.^[1] In 1801, the Nawab of Awadh, Saadat Ali, ceded some territory to the British in return for protection against a threat of attack from the north-west by Zaman Shah Durrani, the grandson of Ahmad Shah Durrani.^[1] The territory included the Gorakhpur and Rohilkhand divisions; the districts of Allahabad, Fatehpur, Cawnpore, Etawah, Mainpuri, Etah; the southern part of Mirzapur; and the terai parganasofKumaun, and came to be known as the Ceded Provinces.^[1] A year later the Nawab of Farrukhabad ceded Farrukhabad district to the British.^[1]

Conquered Provinces[edit]

With the outbreak the Second Anglo-Maratha War, General Lake, took the Meerut division (including Aligarh, after the Battle of Ally Ghur), and soon, the rest of the Agra division (including Agra city), and the districts around Delhi.^[1] In addition, most of the trans-Jamuna districtsofBanda and Hamirpur were added, as well as a small area in Jalaun district.^[1]

In 1816, under the Treaty of Sugauli signed at the conclusion of the Anglo-Nepalese War (1814–1816), the Kumaon division and Dehradun district of present-day Uttarakhand state were annexed as well.^[1]

Administration[edit]

The Ceded and Conquered Provinces were a part of the Bengal PresidencyofBritish India under the administration of the Governor-General-in-Council.^[1] The great distance of the newly acquired territory from the capital of the presidency in Calcutta created administrative hitches.^[3] In response, a number of temporary arrangements were attempted, but proved to be less than optimal; finally, in 1831, an independent Board of Revenue and a separate Sadr Diwani and Nizamat Adalat (Chief Civil and Criminal Courts) were created for these provinces.^[3] In 1833, an act of the British Parliament, the Government of India Act 1833 (3 & 4 Will. 4. c. 85) concurrently promulgated the division of the Bengal Presidency, the elevation the Ceded and Conquered Provinces to the new Presidency of Agra, and the appointment of a new Governor for the latter.^[3] However, the plan was never carried out, and in 1835 another act of Parliament, the India (North-West Provinces) Act 1835 (5 & 6 Will. 4. c. 52) renamed the region the North Western Provinces, this time to be administered by a Lieutenant-Governor, the first of whom, Sir Charles Metcalfe, would be appointed in 1836.^[3]

See also[edit]

• Company rule in India
• United Provinces of Agra and Oudh
• British Raj

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

• Alavi, Seema (1993), "The makings of Company power: James Skinner in the Ceded and Conquered Provinces, 1802–1840", Indian Economic and Social History Review, 30 (4): 437–466, doi:10.1177/001946469303000403, S2CID 143864350
• Bayly, C. A. (2002), Rulers, Townsmen, and Bazaars: North Indian Society in the Age of British Expansion 1770–1870, Delhi: Oxford University Press. Pp. 530, ISBN 0-19-566345-4
• Imperial Gazetteer of India vol. V (1908), Abāzai to Arcot ("Agra Province" pp. 71–72), Published under the authority of His Majesty's Secretary of State for India in Council, Oxford at the Clarendon Press. Pp. viii, 1 map, 437.
• Imperial Gazetteer of India vol. XXIV (1908), Travancore to Zīra ("United Provinces" pp. 132–276), Published under the authority of His Majesty's Secretary of State for India in Council, Oxford at the Clarendon Press. Pp. vi, 1 map, 437.
• Mann, Michael (1995), "A permanent settlement for the Ceded and Conquered provinces: Revenue administration in north India, 1801-1833", Indian Economic and Social History Review, 32 (2): 245–269, doi:10.1177/001946469503200205, S2CID 143460002