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PHOTOGRAPH BY HENRI CARTIER-BRESSON, MAGNUM
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Seventy-five years ago, at the stroke of midnight, India won its freedom after two centuries of British rule. But the cost was staggering. A subcontinent-sized land was suddenly divided into two new nations—Hindu-dominated India and Muslim-dominated Pakistan.
That prompted the largest human migration in history, with as many as 18 million Hindus and Muslims swiftly fleeing ancestral lands to move to the hastily drawn “right” states (shown here). As many as 3.4 million people were killed or went missing in sectarian violence.
The division, called Partition, still haunts the region and affects politics and culture worldwide. Its simmering tensions have been the backdrop for wars, nuclear competition, and art such as Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children and the Disney+ series Ms. Marvel.
Read our full story here. See the maps that show how India was split. And hear from a survivor of that harrowing displacement.
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