
Sylhet came under British administration in 1765. Sylhet was
strategically important for the British in their pursuit of conquering
Northeast India and Upper Burma. The first commercial tea plantation in
British India was opened in the Mulnicherra Estate in Sylhet in 1857.
Sylhet was constituted as a municipality in 1867. Despite protests to
the Governor of Bengal from its Bengali-majority population, the town
was made part of the Chief Commissioner's Province of Assam in 1874 in
order to facilitate Assam's educational and commercial development. The Assam Bengal Railway was established in the late 19th century to connect Assam and Sylhet with the port city of Chittagong.
In 1905, Sylhet became a divisional headquarter of Eastern Bengal and Assam. In 1912, it was again separated from Bengal and made part of Assam Province.
The Muslims of Sylhet generally favored reunion with Bengal. The
Bengali Muslim elite in Dacca also vouched for Sylhet's reunion with
Bengal. By the 1920s, organizations such as the Sylhet Peoples
Association and Sylhet-Bengal Reunion League mobilized public opinion
demanding the division's incorporation into Bengal. Nevertheless, the
Bengalis of Sylhet were influentially placed in the administration,
educational institutions and commercial activities of Assam.
Due to
the size of Sylhet's Bengali Muslim majority, the All India Muslim
League formed the first elected government in British Assam.
The
numbers of lascars grew between the two world wars, with some ending up
in the docks of London and Liverpool. Sylhet's lascars married English
women. During World War II, many fought on the Allied front before
settling down in the United Kingdom, where they opened Indian curry
cafes and restaurants.
In 1947, following a referendum, almost all of
erstwhile district of Sylhet became a part of East Bengal in the
Dominion of Pakistan, barring its Karimganj sub-division which was
incorporated into the Dominion of India. The referendum was held on 6
July 1947. 239,619 people voted to join Pakistan and 184,041 voted to be
part of India. The referendum was acknowledged by Article 3 of the
Indian Independence Act 1947.