Muhammad Ali Jinnah

Died 1948

After two centuries of British rule, India and Pakistan become independent on August 15—but Partition divides the subcontinent along religious lines. Up to 2…

• 1947 CE

  India gains independence; Partition begins

  After two centuries of British rule, India and Pakistan become independent on August 15—but Partition divides the subcontinent along religious lines. Up to 2 million die in communal violence; 15 million flee across borders in one of history's largest mass migrations.