History Extra Podcast: Five Partitions That Shaped South Asia

Date: November 7, 2025
Host: Danny Byrd (Immediate Media)
Guest: Sam Dalrymple (Historian, Author, Filmmaker, Peace Activist)
Main Theme:
An exploration of how the modern face of South Asia was defined by not just the well-known 1947 partition of India and Pakistan, but by five key partitions, stretching from the separation of Burma in 1937 to the birth of Bangladesh in 1971. Dalrymple, drawing from his research for his book Shattered Lands, reflects on migration, memory, and the enduring impact of borders on identities and communities in South Asia.

Overview

This episode delves into the complex and deeply human stories behind five key partitions that shaped South Asia in the 20th century. Through conversation with Sam Dalrymple, author of Shattered Lands, host Danny Byrd unpacks the "domino effect" of these geopolitical ruptures, exploring both their geopolitical roots and their ongoing echoes in personal memory, trauma, and identity across the region.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Symbolism of the India-Pakistan Border

• Dalrymple’s opening image: The border as a "bright scar" visible from space – a modern phenomenon, not an age-old division.

  “It’s a complete myth that you can see the Great Wall of China from space... But a line created to separate Hindus from Muslims is visibly etched into the surface of the globe.” (Sam Dalrymple, 02:23)

• Stresses how borders taken as ancient are, in fact, recent, contingent products of 20th-century history.

2. The Five Partitions

Dalrymple walks through five pivotal partitions:

1. Burma's Separation (1937)
   • Impact: Set the stage for tensions including the Rohingya crisis and divided indigenous communities.
   • Memorable Quote:

     “Burma basically gets separated off as a separate British colony in 1937. And yet this border will create, for example, the Rohingya crisis, stranding people who speak a language closely related to Bengali... in the middle of what’s Myanmar.” (Sam Dalrymple, 04:43)

2. Separation of the Arabian Gulf
   • Forgotten ties between British India and what became the Gulf states.
   • “There’s a very real possibility that an independent India or an independent Pakistan could have had all of those countries as part of them.” (Sam Dalrymple, 06:01)
3. The Great Partition (1947):
   • Creation of India and Pakistan by religious lines – leading to the largest migration in recorded history, enormous violence, and millions of deaths.
   • "Dividing this country on the basis of religion would create the largest forced migration ever recorded in human history." (06:30)
4. The Princely States:
   • How semi-independent kingdoms were allotted between successor states, leading to unresolved conflict (e.g., Kashmir).
5. Bangladesh’s Birth (1971):
   • The split of Pakistan and the emergence of Bangladesh after a brutal war and further administrative divisions.

3. Forgotten Connections: South Asia and the Gulf

• Cross-border identities; elite-level interconnectedness (Indian passports in Yemen and Dubai, Maharajas educated in India).
• Even 1920s Yemen nationalists saw themselves aligned with Indian independence movements (10:09–10:24).

4. The Lost Era of Interconnection and Identity

• While largely erased from public memory, there was a brief period where Arabs and Burmese embraced aspects of Indian nationalism (10:10–11:00).
• The idea of a "wider Indian identity" faded rapidly post-empire—yearning persists more for lost interconnectedness than for political reunion.

5. The Contingency and Domino Effect of Partitions

• "I don’t think it was destined to fracture..." (Sam Dalrymple, 15:00)
• Major partitions were often last-minute outcomes, not centuries-old inevitabilities.
• The contemporary map of South Asia would have been “utterly alien” to anyone in the 1920s.

6. Human Stories and Memory

• Dalrymple recounts personal stories, like the Sikh community’s epic migration from Burma during WWII, found through a family’s attic diary (16:54–18:44):

  “It was this extraordinary account...of the entirety of the Sikh community of eastern Burma migrating back to India during World War II... It reads like a kind of first-person Apocalypse Now...”

• Many valuable historical sources remain unrecognized in private family collections.

7. The Princely States: Overlooked Histories

• 1/3 of British India was governed by local kings, not British officials.
• After independence, these princely states were forcefully assimilated, and their legacies were downplayed by nationalist narratives as well as by British “orientalist tropes”.
• "A huge percentage of the British Empire was indirectly ruled..." (19:26)
• Many princely states were actually more industrialized and cultured than British India (21:06).

8. Cartography and Hidden Borders

• The politics of colonial maps: Inclusion or exclusion of regions like Nepal, Bhutan, and Gulf Sheikdoms reflected shifting diplomatic needs rather than realities on the ground (22:08–24:15).

9. The Emotional Aftermath and Remembrance

• The work of Project Astan: Using virtual reality to reconnect partition survivors with ancestral homes across borders (24:41–26:56).

  “We send out a team, we interview a partition survivor...then we go and try to find these places, scan them in virtual reality, and allow these often kind of 95-year-olds to have a walk through their childhood home again.” (Sam Dalrymple, 25:28)

• The urgency in collecting oral histories before the last witnesses are gone.
• Older generations, despite experiencing trauma, often retain “softer” views of “the enemy” compared to hardened nationalisms among youth (28:14–28:29).

10. National Memory, Forgetting, and Contingency

• Newly independent countries frequently erase or ignore their shared colonial past in service of national narratives (29:12).
• Dalrymple underscores the arbitrariness of many borders and the danger of assuming ancient, organic nationhood in what are often recent, contingent formations.

11. Religious Life and Change

• Pre-partition South Asia characterized by syncretism—fluid, multifaceted identities:

  “For most of human history, religious syncretism was really the norm, but it was particularly so in South Asia.” (30:32)

• Modern religious boundaries are much harder, and many old cultural/religious practices are now unthinkable (32:22).

12. Lessons and Hopes

• Dalrymple stresses the solvability of many South Asian conflicts; there have been “so many times we’ve come close to solving the entire conflict altogether.” (33:14)
• Looks to Ireland’s peace process as inspiration for South Asia:

  “It shows what is possible with imagination.” (34:48)

Notable Quotes

On Borders:

• “A line created to separate Hindus from Muslims is visibly etched into the surface of the globe.” (Sam Dalrymple, 02:30)

On Partition’s Contingency:

• “As late as 1946... it was still entirely possible that Pakistan would not become a separate nation state at all.” (15:21)

On Human Stories:

• “It’s this extraordinary, extraordinary account which had never previously been translated... now going to the British Library as a result of the translation, for future researchers.” (18:21–18:25)

On National Memory:

• “There’s been a willful forgetting of the ties that once brought us all together.” (29:12)

On Peace and Hope:

• “So many times we’ve come close to solving the entire conflict altogether... Ireland needs to be looked at more.” (33:14–35:13)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 02:07: The India-Pakistan border as a visible, modern scar
• 03:41: Explanation of the five key partitions
• 04:42–05:31: Burma's partition and its consequences
• 06:30: The human cost of the 1947 Partition
• 07:27–08:33: Forgotten connections: the Gulf and South Asia
• 16:54–18:44: The Sikh community’s migration diary from Burma
• 19:02–21:18: Role and fate of the Princely States after empire
• 22:08–24:15: Colonial cartography and diplomatic manipulation of borders
• 24:41–26:56: Project Astan and the importance of oral history
• 28:14–28:29: Generational difference in attitudes to partition and the “enemy”
• 30:32–32:22: The fluidity of pre-partition religious life
• 33:14–35:34: Previous peace efforts and lessons from Ireland

Conclusion

Sam Dalrymple’s discussion offers a nuanced, human-centered perspective on the making, memory, and ongoing consequences of the dividing lines across South Asia. He challenges assumptions of ancient, immutable boundaries, highlights both loss and surprising solidarity across communities, and ultimately leaves listeners with the lesson that conflict’s roots are often recent and reversible:

“The key thing that I’d love for people to go away with is quite how similar we all are and quite how solvable a lot of the conflicts that have been created.” (32:40)

For listeners new to South Asian history, the episode is a revelatory look at the region’s deep entanglements, the trauma of division, and the continuing possibilities for reconciliation.