When Did India Become Part of the British Empire?

By Staff WriterLast Updated March 28, 2020

India became part of the British empire in 1858. That year, the British Parliament passed the Government of India Act, which dissolved the East India Company and absorbed India into British rule.

During the time of British rule, roughly 300 million Indians were governed by approximately 20,000 British officials and soldiers, who brought British forms of medicine, railways and irrigation. India’s economy grew as a result, but British officials mistook economic success and the lack of organized revolt as evidence that Indian citizens were happy with being under the control of the British crown. By the 1920s, a movement towards India’s independence began gaining momentum. In 1947, the country became an independent nation.