Most of the region including Pakistan, Afghanistan and Myanmar were all under the Mughal Empire and few minor Indian Kingdoms in Maharashtra and down South. When the British started annexing one by one, the Mughal Empire started disintegrating into minor kingdoms and other minor Indian Kingdoms in the South were completely wiped out and brought under British rule. Among those Kingdoms, some of them owed allegiance to the British rule and were granted independence of ruling under the British, and were called the "Princely States".

PORTUGUESE: They had Goa, Daman and Diu under its control as colonies with Goa as its headquarters.
FRENCH: They had Pondicherry, Karaikkal, Mahe and Yanam in the South and Chandernagore of West Bengal in the East under its control, with Pondicherry (now Puducherry) as its headquarters.
BRITISH: They had the entire country, excluding the French and Portuguese Territories, under its control. After proclamation of British Monarchy rule by the British, the territories were made into Provinces ruled by Governors and some minor Princely States under them.
Thus, at the time of independence, we inherited, British, French territories minus Pakistan straightaway along with some Princely States. The Portuguese territories had to be annexed later by force in 1961.

Regions or areas ruled by certain Kings who owed allegiance to the British and extended their unconditional support, were allowed to continue as independent states. For example, Nizam of Hyderabad, Sikh rulers of Jammu & Kashmir, Wodeyars of Mysore etc., There were as many as 565 Princely States at the time of independence.

1. Ajmer, Merwara and Kukri 2. Andaman & Nicobar Islands, 3. Assam 4. Baluchistan 5. Bengal 6. Bihar 7. Bombay 8. Coorg 9. Central and Berar 10. Delhi 11. Madras 12. Orissa 13. Punjab 14. North West Frontier 15. Sindh 16. United Province (Agra & Oudh).

Immediately after independence and upto 1950, efforts to unite and integrate the various princely states, provinces or retaining certain territories into single states were made. The process was called "Political Integration of State". In this process, new provinces like Rajputana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Bharat and princely states like Mysore were allowed to become their own provinces/states.

The Telugu speaking region was the first to demand a linguistic state and the movement was led by Potti Sriramulu. Thus Andhra Pradesh became the first state to be reorganized on the basis of language from 1953.

Nizam State of Hyderabad - It was annexed to Indian domain on 18th September 1948 by military force " Operation Polo " when Sardar Vallabhai Patel was the Home Minister.

Ruler of Jammu and Kashmir Maharaja Hari Singh was reluctant to join India or Pakistan and wanted to remain independent. This led to war between India and Pakistan during 1947. However, on October 26,1947, the Maharaja executed an instrument of accession and thus J & K was annexed as one of its states. However, the conflict over J & K continues raising tensions now and then.

Andhra Pradesh - 1953 with the addition of Telengana Region of Hyderabad State of the Nizam into its territory.

A Commission headed by Justice Fazal Ali known as "Fazal Ali Commission" and overseen by Govind Vallabh Pant was appointed by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, in December 1953. The Commission submitted its report in 1955. Based on this report, The States Reorganisation Act 1956 was passed. According to this, states on languages spoken basis and some Union Territories were created by territorial adjustments, inclusion and exclusion of regions, to and from states, was announced on 1st November 1956 and implemented.

They are administrative divisions within India ruled directly by the Central Government. Couple of them, like Delhi and Puducherry have their own assemblies while others do not.

14 States and 7 Union Territories.States:
1. Andhra Pradesh: It was "Andhra" prior to the reorganization. Telengana region of the Nizam of Hyderabad Princely State was added.
2. Assam: No change is territories.
3. Bihar: No change in territories. British Bihar Province became Bihar.
4. Bombay State: The British Bombay Province was enlarged by the addition of Saurashtra, Kutch and Marathi speaking Nagpur region. Southernmost districts were transferred to Karnataka.
5. Jammu & Kashmir: No Changes.
6. Kerala: Formed by merger of erstwhile Kochi and Travancore princely States. Malabar District of Madras State was included.
7. Madhya Pradesh: Formed by merging Madhya Bharat, Vindhya Pradesh and Bhopal. Marathi speaking Nagpur Region was excluded and joined with Bombay State.
8. Madras State: Boundaries were reorganized with Andhra Pradesh, a reduction in its size.Tirupati was ceded to Andhra Pradesh and Tiruttani region was included. Malabar District was ceded to Kerala.
9. Mysore State: The erstwhile princely state of Mysore was enlarged with the addition of Coorg and also Kannada speaking districts from Southern Bombay and some western Hyderabad State.
10.Orissa: No changes.
11.Punjab: Formed by merging erstwhile Patiala and the Union of Punjab States.
12.Rajasthan: Enlarged by the addition of Ajmer-Marwara State.
13. Uttar Pradesh: No change was effected.
14. West Bengal: No change was effected.
Union Territories: 1. Andaman & Nicobar Islands 2. Delhi 3. Himachal Pradesh 4. Lakshadweep 5. Tripura 6. Pondicherry 7. Manipur.
The eastern states were administered as North East Frontier Agency. Of these UTs, Delhi and Pondicherry have state assemblies retaining their identity as Union territories. Delhi is also called National Capital Territory.

The Portuguese ruled Goa, Diu and Daman was the only colonized region that did not join the Union of India even until reorganization of states on linguistic basis took place in November 1956. It was taken over by India through a military operation from 16th to 18th December 1961 code named "Operation Vijay" which lasted for 36 hours.

1. 1.5.1960: Bombay State was split into two states viz: Maharashtra and Gujarat.
2. 1.12.1963: Nagaland was carved out of Assam and became a state.
3. 1.11.1966: Haryana carved out of Punjab and became a state.
4. 25.1.1971: Himachal Pradesh - Union Territory became a state.
5. 21.1.1972: Manipur and Meghalaya from North East Frontier Agency and Tripura - Union Territory, became independent states.
6. 16.5.1975: Sikkim - which was neither a UT or state, became an Independent state.
7. 20.2.1987: Mizoram from North East Frontier Agency was formed.
8. 30.5.1987: Goa after annexation from Portuguese was administered as a Unition territory, was accorded statehood.
9. 1.11.2000: Chhatisgarh was carved out of Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar and Uttarakhand carved out of UP were given statehood.

29 States and 7 Union Territories. Union Territories: Seven.
1. Andaman & Nicobar Islands. - Port Blair;
2. Chandigarh
3. Dadra & Nagar Haveli - Silvassa;
4. Daman & Diu - Daman
5.Lakshadweep - Kavaratti.
6. Pondicherry
7.Delhi.

565

Fazal Ali Commission.

Operation Vijay

Operation Polo.

26th October 1947.

1. Jammu & Kashmir: The ruler of J & K preferred to remain independent while Pakistan tried to annexe it through war. At this point, on the request of the ruler of J & K, India intervened and annexed it through war from Pakistan. However, a portion of Jammu & Kashmir, still remains a disputed area called "Pakistan Occupied Kashmir", over which dialogues are still on. On 27th October 1947, it was finally annexed to India, by Treaty of Accession by ruler Hari Singh.

2. Junagadh: was a region covered on all sides by Indian territory, excepting sea route. It had a majority Hindu population, however the ruler was a Nawab and he wanted to unite with Pakistan and accordingly gave an accession to Pakistan. However, India protested and blocked all the road routes and supplies were cut off. At this point, the Nawab fled to Karachi.After much dialogues and local administrative head's recommendations, fearing a chaos, invited India to take over. Accordingly India conducted a military operation and annexed it. A plebiscite (referendum) was conducted on 20.2.1948 in which 99% people voted in favour of India and thus it was annexed in 1948 with Bombay State and later bifurcated to be with Gujarat.

3. Hyderabad: The Nizam of Hyderabad was refusing for integration with India. Therefore, our country had to conduct a military operation code named "Operation Polo" between 16th to 18th September 1948 and annexe it.