India–United Kingdom relations would remain the empire's most important colony until independence. Queen Victoria became Empress of India in 1876. From a small trading outpost, India became the jewel in the British crown. In 1858, the British Government took control of the territories and treaty arrangements of the former East India Company. In 1876, the area, which included modern India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, became "the Indian Empire" (often known historically as the "British Raj") with British Monarch Queen Victoria proclaimed as "Empress of India" (a title held by her successors until 1947). The British Indian Army was established and assisted Britain in many
Colony of Aden the Middle East, it did not join the British Commonwealth. Colony of Aden The Colony of Aden or Aden Colony ( "") was a British Crown colony from 1937 to 1963 located in the south of contemporary Yemen. It consisted of the port of Aden and its immediate surroundings (an area of ). Prior to 1937, Aden had been governed as part of British India (originally as the Aden Settlement subordinate to the Bombay Presidency, and then as a Chief Commissioner's province). Under the Government of India Act 1935 the territory was detached from British India and established as a