Southern Asia 1930: Salt March

In late 1929 the Indian National Congress decided to push for the complete end of British rule, declaring 26 January 1930 as India's Independence Day. Under the leadership of Mohandas Gandhi, Congress's next move was to dispute the restrictive British salt tax, with Gandhi marching to the sea to make his own salt with seawater - an illegal action. As expected, the British arrested Gandhi, but his march encouraged large scale acts of civil disobedience across the country and brought worldwide attention to India's independence movement.

Notes

Changes to the map 29 March 1929–27 April 1930

Arabia: The Ikhwan Revolt has been defeated by the Saudis.

Soviet Central Asia: The Tajik SSR has been detached from the Uzbek SSR.

Afghanistan: Kalakani has been overthrown and executed.

China: The Nationalist Government has fallen out with the Guangxi clique and defeated it.

British Protectorates in the Persian Gulf

The British Residency of the Persian Gulf maintains British India influence in a number of Gulf states. These states are nominally independent - and shown as such in most atlases from the period - but have all signed treaties guaranteeing British control over their foreign affairs.

The Sultanate of Muscat and Oman is the only one of these states with significant international relations, having obtained trade agreements with the US and France before it signed its treaty with Britain. Maps of the time often show Trucial Oman and even Qatar as regions of Oman.

Trucial Oman is the region to the west of Oman which collectively signed treaties with Britain. The sheikhdoms of this region are often called the Trucial States, and will become the United Arab Emirates. However at this time they have little unity, with no regional council until 1952.

Indian Empire

The British Indian Empire, also known as the British Raj, is comprised of a complex of presidencies, provinces, protectorates, and agencies. Only the top level subdivisions are shown here.

The area under direct British rule is known as British India and made up of presidencies and provinces - a presidency simply being the name for an older province.

Outside British India, but often included within the sphere of the presidencies/provinces, are the hundreds of protectorates or 'princely states'. These are indirectly ruled states, the largest being Hyderabad, Kashmir, and Mysore. The others are either collected into agencies - which may in turn contain other smaller agencies - or fall under the sway of the provinces.

Main Events

24–29 Oct 1929 Wall Street Crash

Between opening on 24 October 1929 (“Black Thursday”) and close on 29 October (“Black Tuesday”), the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped in value from 305.85 to 230.07 in the most devastating stock market crash in United States history. The crash would bring an abrupt end to the Roaring Twenties and signal the beginning of the Great Depression.in wikipedia

5 Dec 1929 Tajik Socialist Soviet Republic

The Tajik Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic is detached from the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Union, to become the Tajik Socialist Soviet Republic. Its capital, Dyushambe (Dushanbe), is renamed Stalinabad and the new SSR is also granted additional Uzbek territory in the north.in wikipedia

26 Jan 1930 Purna Swaraj

The Indian National Congress promulgates the Declaration of the Independence of India, resolving to fight for Purna Swaraj—complete independence and self-rule for India. The promulgation follows Congress President Jawaharlal Nehru’s hoisting of the new flag of India in Lahore on New Year’s Eve 1929, and leads to 26 January being regarded as India’s Independence Day until official independence in 1947.in wikipedia

12 Mar–5 May 1930 Salt March

Indian nationalist Mohandas Gandhi marches 390 km from Sabarmati Ashram, in Gujarat in British India, to the coastal village of Dandi in order to produce salt from seawater as an act of protest against the British tax on salt production and ban on local sea-salt reclamation. His act triggers large scale acts of civil disobedience against the salt laws by millions of Indians, leading to the jailing of Gandhi and over 80,000 others, but draws worldwide attention to the cause of Indian independence.in wikipedia

23 Apr 1930 Qissa Khwani Bazaar massacre

Protesters demonstrate in Peshawar, British India, in response to discriminatory laws and the British arrest of Ghaffar Khan, leader of the Khudai Khidmatgar—an order of non-violent resistance. British and Indian troops moving in to restore order clash with a large crowd of Khudai Khidmatgar followers gathered at the Qissa Khwani bazaar. When the unarmed crowd refuses to disperse, the British open fire with machine guns, leading to the deaths of nearly 400 people.in wikipedia