British India or British Raj (rāj, lit. "reign" in Hindi is a euphemism employed in Britain to refer to the British occupation and rule (referred to as 'dominion' in the language of the British Empire) of the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; it can also refer to the region of the rule, or the period of dominion. First the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland then, after 1927, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (contemporaneously, "British India") as well as the princely states ruled by individual rulers under the paramountcy of the British Crown. The resulting political union was officially designated by the British as the Indian Empire, but commonly called India in contemporary usage.