Creation of Uttar Pradesh

In the second half of the 18th century, a series of battles gave the British East India Company (HEIC) mastery over the area that is now Uttaranchal and western UP. The HEIC established an administration controlled by its senior officer in the region, the “Resident” of Delhi, to administer a political entity whose sovereignty was as ill-defined as its borders. For several reasons, the seat of administration was moved to Agra in 1834 and a “president” was appointed to govern the area.

In 1836, the “North-western Provinces” was created, the name indicative of the fact that the area comprised the north-western frontier of British India at that time. While that circumstance changed almost immediately afterwards, the name persisted until 1877. Meanwhile, in 1856, the HEIC annexed Avadh (Oudh), a large principality which covered much of what is now eastern UP; this area was merged with the existing British province to create a behemoth that was given a name commensurate with its size: the “United Provinces of the north-west and Oudh”.

In 1871, the district of Ajmer-Merwara, a British Indian enclave surrounded by native princely states of the Rajputana agency, was detached from this province and constituted a separate commissionership. In 1877, the province was renamed the “United Provinces of Agra and Oudh”, dropping the now glaringly misplaced reference to the “northwest”. However, it was generally referred to merely as “The United Provinces”; in 1902, the province was formally given that name.

After India attained independence in 1947, the province was renamed “Uttar Pradesh“, Hindi for “North Province”. “Uttar” means “north” and “Pradesh” means “region” or “state”. This name was proposed by Govind Ballabh Pant, noted freedom fighter and first chief minister of Uttar Pradesh; one reason for its adoption was certainly the fact that the abbreviation “U.P.” by which the province had been referred to for a century, was retained. In 2000, the north-western hill districts of Uttar Pradesh were constituted into a separate state named Uttaranchal.