In 1805, the British divided this area into two parts due to administrative and political reasons. A smaller part called the Assigned Territories was kept directly under the control of the Company. The larger part was divided and handed over to various local rulers who were faithful and loyal to the British.
The Assigned Territory consisted of the areas under Panipat, Sonepat, Samalkha, Ganaur, Palam, Palwal, Nuh, Nagina, Hathin, Ferozpur Jhirkha, Sohna and Rewari. This area was administered by East India Company’s officer, called the Resident and he reported directly to the Governor General. The other larger part was divided into various princely states and handed over to loyal local king and nawabs.
But these arrangements didn’t go too well with the people of Haryana who are by nature independent minded and don’t like outsiders meddling in their affairs. Therefore, they, especially the Jats of Rohtak and Ahirs and Meos of Gurgaon, rose again in revolt against the rulers. But by 1809, British had established full control over the territory of Haryana.
The year 1833 was another important landmark in Haryana’s history. In this year, the Bengal Presidency under the East India Company was divided into two provinces of Bengal and North Western Province. Most areas of Haryana and Delhi together became one of the six divisions of north western Province, called the Delhi division.
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The Delhi division was further sub-divided into seven princely states and five districts. The princely states were Bahadurgarh, Ballabhgarh, Dujana, Farukhnagar, Jhajjar, Loharu and Pataudi. The five districts were Delhi, Gurgaon, Rohtak, Panipat and Hissar. These districts were divided into Tehsils and Tehsils were bifurcated into Zails.
The officer heading the Delhi division was called a Commissioner instead of the Resident. At this time, some areas of the present-day Haryana were outside the Delhi division and were considered to be a part of the “upper region”. These were the districts of Ambala and Thanesar and the princely states of Buria, Chhachhrauli and Jind. But the people of “upper region” and Delhi division, though administratively in different provinces, were closely bound by socio-cultural ties. This administrative system continued till the Revolt of 1857.
The Revolt of 1857 was sparked by the introduction of the Enfield rifle in the Indian Army. The cartridges of this new rifle were greased with an ingredient containing cow’s fat and hog’s lard. This news spread like wild fire among the sepoys of the army. Both Hindus and the Muslims were shocked and outraged at the use of cow’s fat and hog’s lard, respectively.
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They soon formed panchayats in all corps and decided to socially boycott any sepoy who used these cartridges. This feeling continued to grow until mutiny started and spread throughout northern India and Bengal. The first military station in northern India, where the mutiny started, was Ambala; the day was 10 May, 1857.
Except for the princely states of Jind, Kalsia, Buria and some small Jagirs in Ambala and Thanesar, the entire Haryana region was severely affected by the revolt. An important aspect of the uprising in Haryana was complete communal co-operation and amity.
By the beginning of June, 1857, almost whole of Haryana had become independent of the British rule. It took almost six months for the British to take back the control of Haryana. The superior firearms, artillery and the help of some loyal rulers of princely states proved to be handy for the British.
The rebels were ruthlessly crushed by them. While doing so, they burned down hundreds of villages and indulged in wanton killings. After the 1857 Revolt, the British removed Haryana from the north western province and merged it with. Punjab in February, 1858. The region of Haryana was divided into two divisions that of Delhi and Hissar.
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The Delhi division consisted of the districts of Delhi, Gurgaon and Panipat while the Hissar division consisted of the districts of Hissar, Sirsa and Rohtak. These districts were further divided into tehsils, tehsils into zails and zails into villages. The Punjab government, in 1871, ordered the setting up of district committees or Zila Samitis. The Punjab District Board Act (1883) gave more powers to these Zila Samitis.