b. In spite of a
treaty signed with the British in this year, Mudhoji in 1817 joined the
peshwa, but was defeated at Sitabaldi and forced to cede the rest of
Berar to the nizam, and parts of Saugor and Damoh, with Mandla, Betul,
Seoni and the Nerbudda valley, to the British. After a temporary
restoration to the throne he was deposed, and Raghoji III., a grandchild
of Raghoji II., was placed on the throne. During his minority, which
lasted till 1840, the country was well administered by a British
resident. In 1853, on the death of Raghoji III. without heirs, Nagpur
lapsed to the British paramount power. Until the formation of the
Central Provinces in 1861, Nagpur province, which consists of the
present Nagpur division, Chhindwara and Chhatisgarh, was administered by
a commissioner under the central government.

The territories in the north ceded in 1817 by the peshwa (parts of
Saugor and Damoh) and in 1818 by Appa Sahib were in 1820 formed into the
Saugor and Nerbudda Territories under an agent to the governor-general,
and in 1835 were included in the newly formed North-West Provinces. In
1842, in consequence of a rising, they were again placed under the
jurisdiction of an agent to the governor-general. Restored to the
North-West Provinces in 1853, they were finally joined with the Nagpur
province to constitute the new Central Provinces in 1861. On the 1st of
October 1903 Berar also was placed under the administration of the
commissioner of the Central Provinces (for history see BERAR). In 1905
the greater part of Sambalpur district, with the feudatory states of
Bamra, Rairakhol, Sonpur, Patna and Kalahandi, were transferred to
Bengal, while the feudatory states of Chang Bhakar, Korea, Surguja,
Udaipur and Jashpur were transferred from Bengal to the Central
Provinces.

During the decade 1891-1901 the Central Provinces suffered from famine
more severely than any other part of India. The complete failure of the
rain in the autumn of 1896 caused scarcity to develop suddenly into
famine, which lasted until the end of 1897. The total number of persons
in receipt of relief reached its maximum of nearly 700,000 in May 1897.
The expenditure on relief alone was about a million sterling; and the
total cost of the famine, including loss of revenue, amounted to nearly
twice that amount. During 1897 the death-rate for the whole province
rose to sixty-nine per thousand, or double the average, while the
birth-rate fell to twenty-seve