Shattered Lands

A history of modern South Asia told through five partitions that reshaped it. We think of the Raj as controlling only India and Pakistan, and its breakup happening in August 1947. In reality, a quarter of the world’s population was ruled by the Viceroy from New Delhi, in a single market/rupee-currency zone that spread from the Red Sea to the borders of Thailand – an empire within an empire that included Burma, parts of Yemen, and most of the Gulf states like Dubai. The breakup of this single ‘Indian Empire’ created almost all of the conflicts which plague Asia today. These include civil wars in Burma and Sri Lanka, the ongoing insurgencies in Kashmir, Baluchistan and North East India, the Iranian Revolution, the rise of the Taliban, and most recently the Rohingya genocide.The partitions under the microscope in this book will be The Partition of Burma, the Great Partition, the Partition of Princely India, the Partition of Arabia, and the Partition of Pakistan. Combining narrative history based on archival materials, first-hand accounts and new interviews conducted by the author, this is an accessible introduction to the continuing legacy of empire and to twentieth-century South Asia.