Question

which were the two states India had before 1947

Answer 1

Before 1947, the British United parts of the earlier Mughal, Sikh, Maratha Empires to make a United India stretching from Peshawar in modern day Pakistan all the way to Rangoon in modern Myanmar.

During this time, what was known as 'British India' was first called Presidency towns, then Presidencies of British India and then provinces of India. Things changed depending on the time the British arrived and expanded with the East India Company and by 1851 when the whole area was divided into 4 grand parts, the Bengal Presidency, Bombay Presidency , Madras Presidency and North-Western provinces. There were also several princely states in there, which were partially independent but came under the British Crown