|
A princely state (also called native state (legally, under the British) or Indian state (for those states on the subcontinent)) was a nominally sovereign〔 Quote: "The British did not create the Indian princes. Before and during the European penetration of India, indigenous rulers achieved dominance through the military protection they provided to dependents and their skill in acquiring revenues to maintain their military and administrative organisations. Major Indian rulers exercised varying degrees and types of sovereign powers before they entered treaty relations with the British. What changed during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries is that the British increasingly restricted the sovereignty of Indian rulers. The Company set boundaries; it extracted resources in the form of military personnel, subsidies or tribute payments, and the purchase of commercial goods at favourable prices, and limited opportunities for other alliances. From the 1810s onwards as the British expanded and consolidated their power, their centralised military despotism dramatically reduced the political options of Indian rulers." (p. 85)〕 monarchy under a local or regional ruler in a subsidiary alliance with a greater power. Though the history of the princely states of the subcontinent dates from at least the classical period of Indian history, the predominant usage of the term ''princely state'' specifically refers to a semi-sovereign principality on the Indian subcontinent during the British Raj that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by a local ruler under a form of indirect rule; similar political entities also existed on or in the region of the Arabian Peninsula, in Africa and in Malaya, and which were similarly recognised under British rule,〔 Quote: "The British system of indirect rule over Indian states ... provided a model for the efficient use of scarce monetary and personnel resources that could be adopted to imperial acquisitions in Malaya and Africa. (p. 87)"〕 subject to a subsidiary alliance and the suzerainty or paramountcy of the British Crown. Oman, Zanzibar and the Trucial States were also under the British Raj, and were administered in the same manner as the Indian princely states as part of the Persian Gulf Residency; however, they were officially categorised as British protectorates, with differing degrees of autonomy. There were officially 565 princely states in the Indian subcontinent,〔http://www.worldstatesmen.org/India_princes_A-J.html〕 at the time of independence in August 1947, apart from thousands of zamindaris and jagirs. The most prominent among those - roughly a quarter of the total - had the status of a salute state, one whose ruler was honoured by receiving a set number of gun salutes on ceremonial occasions, ranging from nine to 21. Rulers of salute states entitled to a gun salute of 11 guns and above received the style of ''Highness''; the Nizam of Hyderabad had the unique style of ''Exalted Highness''. The princely states varied greatly in status, size and wealth; the premier 21-gun salute states of Hyderabad and Jammu and Kashmir were each over 200,000 km2 in size, or slightly larger than the whole of Great Britain. In 1941, Hyderabad had a population of over 16 million, comparable to the population of Romania at the time, while Jammu and Kashmir had a population of slightly over 4 million, comparable to that of Switzerland. At the other end of the scale, the non-salute principality of Lawa covered an area of 49 km2, or smaller than Bermuda, with a population of just below 3,000. Some two hundred of the lesser states had an area of less than 25 km2 (10 mi2). At independence, Hyderabad had annual revenues of over Rs. 9 crore (roughly £6.75 million/$27.2 million in 1947 values, approximately £240 million/$290 million in 2014 values), and its own army, airline, telecommunication system, railway, postal system, currency, radio service and a major public university; the tiny state of Lawa had annual revenues of just Rs. 28,000 (£2100/$8463 in 1947 values, £73,360/$89,040 in 2014 values).〔〔Values are from the last imperial Indian census in 1941. Until 1966, when India left the British sterling area, the Indian rupee was pegged to the British pound sterling and had a value of £0.1s.6d (1 shilling and 6d., or 18d. (old)). The pre-decimal pound was subdivided into 20s. (shillings) and valued at $4.03 at independence in 1947. One shilling was therefore worth $0.20 U.S., so a rupee was worth $0.30 U.S. In 1947, £0.1s.6d had an estimated purchasing power of £2.62 in 2014, while $0.30 in 1947 had an estimated purchasing power of $3.18 (in 2014 values).(Schedule of Par Values, Currencies of Metropolitan Areas, ''The Statesman's Year Book 1947,'' pg xxiii, Macmillan & Co.; measuringworth.com)〕 The era of the princely states effectively ended with Indian independence in 1947. By 1950, almost all of the principalities had acceded to either India or Pakistan nine to Pakistan and the rest to India. The accession process was largely peaceful except in the cases of Jammu & Kashmir (whose king decided to accede to India, but only after an invasion by Pakistan-based tribal militia) and Hyderabad, whose ruler opted for total independence in 1947, resulting in the forced annexation of the state to India. As per the terms of accession, the erstwhile Indian princes received privy purses (government allowances), and were initially allowed to retain their statuses, privileges and autonomy in internal matters during a transitional period which lasted until 1956. During this time, the former princely states were amalgamated into federations; each federation was headed by a former ruling prince with the title of ''Rajpramukh'' (ruling chief), equivalent to a state governor.〔Wilhelm von Pochhammer, ''India's road to nationhood: a political history of the subcontinent'' (1981) ch 57〕 In 1956, the position of ''Rajpramukh'' was abolished and the federations dissolved, the former principalities becoming part of Indian states. The states which acceded to Pakistan retained their status until the promulgation of a new constitution in 1956, when they became part of the province of West Pakistan; a few of the former states retained their autonomy until 1969 when they were fully integrated into Pakistan. The Indian Government formally derecognised the princely families in 1971, followed by the Government of Pakistan in 1972. ==History== Though principalities and chiefdoms existed on the Indian subcontinent from at least the Iron Age, the history of princely states on the Indian subcontinent dates to at least the 5th-6th centuries C.E., during the rise of the middle kingdoms of India following the collapse of the Gupta Empire.〔Agarwal, Ashvini (1989). ''Rise and Fall of the Imperial Guptas'', Delhi:Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 81-208-0592-5, pp.264–9〕 Many of the future ruling clan groups - notably the Rajputs - began to emerge during this period; by the 13th-14th centuries, many of the Rajput clans had firmly established semi-independent principalities in the north-west, along with several in the north-east. The widespread expansion of Islam during this time brought many principalities into tributary relations with Islamic sultanates, notably the Delhi Sultanate and Bahmani Sultanate. In the south, however, the Hindu Vijayanagara Empire remained dominant until the mid-17th century; among its tributaries was the future Mysore Kingdom. The Turco-Mongol Mughal Empire brought a majority of the existing Indian kingdoms and principalities under its suzerainty by the 17th century, beginning with its foundation in the early 16th century. The advent of Sikhism resulted in the creation of the Sikh Empire in the north by the early 18th century, by which time the Mughal Empire was in full decline. At the same time, the Marathas carved out their own states to form the Maratha Empire. Through the 18th century, former Mughal governors formed their own independent states. In the north-west, some of those - such as Tonk - allied themselves with various groups, including the Marathas and the Durrani Empire, itself formed in 1747 from a loose agglomeration of tribal chiefdoms that composed former Mughal territories. In 1768, Prithvi Narayan Shah, ruler of a small principality in Gorkha, likewise established the Kingdom of Nepal from a federation of small states, expanding its influence over much of north-eastern India; in the south, the principalities of Hyderabad and Arcot were fully established by the 1760s, though they nominally remained vassals of the Mughal Emperor. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「princely state」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|