[1] Nagpur Province was formed after the death of the heirless Maharaja Raghoji III in 1853.

The British used the doctrine of lapse to justify the annexation of the princely state of Nagpur.

The province included the domains of the Maratha Bhonsle Maharajas of Nagpur, powerful members of the Maratha Confederacy who conquered large tracts of central and eastern India in the 18th century.

[2] In 1818, at the conclusion of the Third Anglo-Maratha War, the Bhonsle Maharaja submitted to a subsidiary alliance, and Nagpur became a princely state under the suzerainty of the British crown.

The districts of Nagpur, Bhandara, Chada, Wardha, and Balaghat became the Nagpur Division of the new province, while Durg, Raipur, and Bilaspur became the Chhattisgarh Division.