Why did Lord Curzon partition Bengal in 1905?

The partition of Bengal in 1905, carried out by Lord Curzon, was officially justified by the British as a measure to improve administrative efficiency. By the turn of the 20th century, the Bengal Presidency had become too vast and unwieldy to manage effectively under a single administration, with the eastern region suffering from neglect and poor communication compared to the more developed west.123

However, the partition is widely regarded by historians as a strategic application of the divide and rule policy. Beyond administrative convenience, the move was intended to weaken the Indian Independence Movement by fostering religious divisions. By creating a Muslim-majority province in the east and a Hindu-majority province in the west, the British sought to position the Muslim population as a political counterweight to the Hindu-dominated nationalist movement centered in Calcutta. This territorial reorganization ultimately intensified anti-colonial sentiment and catalyzed the Swadeshi Movement before the partition was eventually annulled in 1911.123