British provinces

Making of British Provinces and Districts

This dataset is used to reconstruct British provinces and districts and link them to modern administrative units.

Open downloadCore referenceMedium

Shivakumar Jolad; Gaurav Kalyani · 2026 · Harvard Dataverse

Host / institution

Harvard Dataverse · India State Stories / FLAME University

Geography

India, state, district, historical province

Time coverage

17th–20th century British India (to modern equivalents)

Update frequency

v1 deposit (2026)

What this is best for

Colonial administrative history and district-origin research (Banerjee–Iyer style joins)

Main limitations

Historical units do not map 1:1 to modern districts without the crosswalk

Quick answers

Short research-facing answers derived from this catalog record.

What is British Provinces & Districts used for?
Colonial administrative history and district-origin research (Banerjee–Iyer style joins)
How do you access British Provinces & Districts data?
British Provinces & Districts is labeled “Open download” on this guide. Open the access portal or documentation links on the record for the current host process—do not assume open download if registration or a DUA is required.
What geography and time does British Provinces & Districts cover?
Geography: India, state, district, historical province. Time coverage: 17th–20th century British India (to modern equivalents).
What are the main limitations of British Provinces & Districts?
Historical units do not map 1:1 to modern districts without the crosswalk

Guides for using this data

Official portals, user guides, codebooks, and tutorials for access and analysis.

1 link

Variables4

Representative fields from Harvard Dataverse materials (confirm full dictionary on the official portal). Representative fields for the page table — verify the full dictionary on the official site.

Open official dictionary
Name / codeDescription
province / presidencyProvince / presidency
district formation dateDistrict formation date
acquisition methodAcquisition method
modern district crosswalkModern district crosswalk
Formats

tabular

Technical tags
historicalopen downloadreference
Example uses
Typical research and analysis uses for this dataset

Colonial land-tenure legacy and institutional origins

Academic identifiers

Pairs well with

Many Indian data problems need survey + administrative combinations.