Shattered Lands: Five Divisions and the Making of Modern Asia

Won History of the Year by the Financial Times, NPR, and BBC. A bold, comprehensive history of modern South Asia, told through the five divisions that reshaped it. In Sam Dalrymple's brilliant book Shattered Lands: Five Divisions and the Making of Asia Modern” Shattered Lands: Five Partitions and the Making of Modern Asia, published by William Collins Publishing; It brilliantly delves into the way the Indian Empire was dismantled into twelve independent states between 1931 and 1971. It is a tale charged with hatred, violence and betrayal. The story was not without British deception as well, as the true size of the Indian Empire was deliberately understated. “The maps that show them in their entirety have only been published in complete secrecy,” Dalrymple says in a book full of fascinating details. Until 1928, a vast swath of Asia, extending from the Red Sea to the border of Thailand, was united under the banner of a single empire, an entity officially known as the "Indian Empire" or simply as "the Raj." This empire was the jewel in the British crown, and home to a quarter of the world's population. Within just fifty years, that empire had disintegrated. Five partitions tore it apart, dividing it into twelve modern states, which included not only India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, but also Burma, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar. In a captivating and engaging narrative style, Sam Dalrymple presents, for the first time, the full story of how the Indian Empire disintegrated. It is a story of maps redrawn in boardrooms and on battlefields, of bumbling politicians in London, of idealistic revolutionaries in Delhi, of kings in far-flung palaces, and of ordinary citizens swept away by wars and mass migrations. It is a history of ambition and betrayal, forgotten wars, unexpected alliances, and borders carved with ink and fire. He left behind a legacy of exile and division. It began in 1937, when Burma was separated from India, with disastrous results. In the same year, the division of the Arabian Peninsula began with the separation of Aden, and was completed in 1947 with the transfer of the Gulf states. Also in 1947, the “Great Partition” occurred, culminating in the largest forced migration in history and the creation of Pakistan, quickly followed by the partition of princely India. Finally, in 1971, the nascent Pakistan was torn apart, and Bangladesh was born. Based on in-depth archival research, never-before-translated sources, and hundreds of interviews in English, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Punjabi, Konyak, Arabic, and Burmese, Shattered Lands is a deeply captivating history that offers a new understanding of modern South Asia—one that highlights the continuing legacy of empire.