Central Provinces and Berar

A British Raj province comprising British conquests from the Mughals and Marathas in central India. Its capital was Nagpur. The Marathi-speaking Berar region of the Hyderabad princely state was administered by the Central Provinces after 1853, and annexed to the Central Provinces in 1903. The Central provinces had five divisions, Jubbulpore (Jabalpur), Nerbudda (Narmada), Nagpur, Chhattisgarh, and Berar, which were divided into 22 districts, Saugor, Damoh, Jubbulpore, Mandla, Seoni, Narsinghpur, Hoshangabad, Nimar, Betul, Chhindwara, Wardha, Nagpur, Chanda, Bhandara, Balaghat, Raipur, Bilaspur, Amraoti, Akola, Ellichpur, Buldana and Wun. The Central Provinces and Berar also had jurisdiction over 16 princely states. After Indian Independence in 1947, the Central Provinces and Berar became part of India, and was merged with the princely states under its authority to become the Indian State of Madhya Pradesh in 1950. In 1956, the Marathi-speaking areas of Madhya Pradesh, including Berar and Nagpur division, became part of Bombay state.