Decisive Dates

India - Decisive Dates

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Ancient Indian Civilization

2500-1500 BC                   The Indus Valley Civilization: Mohenjodaro, Harappa
1500 BC                             The Hindu sacred text, Rig Veda, is written
563 BC                                  Birth of Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism
599-527 BC                         Vardhamana Mahavira, the founder of Jainism, is born
326 BC                                  Alexander the Great invades India
320 BC                                  Chandragupta starts the Mauryan Empire that rules over Northern India
273-232 BC                         Emperor Ashoka
261 BC                                   Kalinga War: Ashoka's conversion to Buddhism
180 BC                                  Menander, Greek king of Sialkot is born
100 BC                                 The Scythians (Sakas) rule Northern India
52 AD                                    Saint Thomas arrives in India to promote Christianity
68-182                                The Kushan Empire flourishes
320-490                              The Gupta Empire, the Golden Age of Indian Civilization, is established. Science, literature and arts flourish.
470                                        The Huns invade India, the fall of the Guptas, Decline of Buddhism
528                                         Defeat of the Huns by the Hindus
506-647                               Harsha rules the throne of Kanauj
630-645                               Hiuen Tsang, the Chinese traveller, visits India
6th-7th                                 Century The Chalukya Dynasty of South India - Aiholi, Badami
8th                                       Century The Rashtrakutas of Ellora, the Ganga Dynasty of Puri & Bhubaneshwar
788                                      Birth of Sankracharya, the Vedanta philosopher

The Rajput Period: 900-1200

850                                      Anangpal builds Lal Kot, Delhi's first city
1000-1300                        Hoysala Empire rules the South
1001-1019                         Muhammed of Ghazni raids India
1026                                    Looting of Somnath by Muhammed of Ghazni
1176                                    Muhammed Ghor's invades the North and makes Qutub-ud-Din Aibak Delhi's first ruler
1192                                    Battle of Tarain: Prithviraj Chauhan slain

The Delhi Sultanate

1206                                    Qutub-ud-din Aibak becomes sultan of Delhi.
1297                                     Marco Polo visits South India
1321                                    Ghias-ud-Din Tughlaq is proclaimed sultan. He starts building ughlaqabad, the third city of Delhi
1325                                     Muhammed-bin Tughlaq becomes sultan and builds Jahanpanah, the fourth city.
1336                                    The Hindu kingdom of Vijaynagara is built in South India
1351                                     Feroz Shah Tughlaq builds Ferozabad, the fifth city.
1398                                     Looting of Delhi by Timurlane
1414                                     Power passes to the Sayyids
1451                                     Buhlbal Lodi, an Afghan noble, captures the throne and founds the Lodhi dynasty
14th-16th centuries          Islam is established throughout the north. The south remains independent under the Hindu Vijayanagar dynasty

1469                                    Birth of Guru Nanak, founder of Sikhism
1498                                    The Portugese arrive in Kerala, Vasco De Gama establishes Portugese posts, followed by the Dutch, French and English

The Mughal Dynasty: 1526-1857

1526 Babur, a warlord from Samarkand, defeats the Sultan of Delhi at the Battle of Panipat, and proclaims himself the first Mughal emperor

1540 Humayun succeeds his father, Babur, and starts to build Purana Qila, Delhi's sixth city
1556 Akbar is enthroned, aged 13. He pushes the borders of the Mughal Empire three-quarters of the way across the sub-continent

1565 Akbar starts to build the Red Fort in his capital city, Agra.
1569-1574 Akbar builds his "dream city" of Fatehpur Sikri, near Agra and moves his capital there, but the court returns to Agra ten years later.

1600 Queen Elizabeth I grants a trading charter to the British East India Company, and in 1608, English merchants set up a base Surat in Gujarat

1605                Akbar is succeeded by his son, Jahangir
1627-1658      Shah Jahan, Akbar's grandson, becomes emperor.
1632                Shah Jahan starts building the Taj Mahal in memory of his wife.
1638                Shah Jahan moves the capital from Agra to Delhi and lays the foundation  for Shahjahanabad, Delhi's seventh city Shah Jahan begins work on Lal Qila (Red Fort)

1646-1680 Shivaji captures the hill forests around Poona which signals the rise of Maratha power
1659-1707 Aurangzeb becomes emperor by imprisoning his father, Shah Jahan, in the Red Fort at Agra. Following his death the Mughal Empire declines.

1674 The French setup a trading post at Pondicherrye Indian Independence movement
1739 Nadir Shah, a Persian king, invades Delhi and slaughters 30,000 residents of Shahjahanabad before returning to Persia with the Peacock throne

1756-1763      In the Seven Years' War the British East India Company ousts the French from Bengal
1761                 The British defeat the Maratha armies at Panipat
1764                 In the Battle of Buxar, Clive receives the Diwani of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa for the East India               Company

1774-1785       Warren Hastings consolidates British gains
1799                 Rise of Maharaja Ranjit Singh & the Sikhs
1804                 Delhi Emperor is put under British protectorate
1818                 By finally overthrowing the Marathas, the British establish themselves as the paramount power in India

1849 Second Sikh War: annexation of Punjab
1857 Indian Mutiny breaks out in Meerut, where sepoys are incited by a rumour that a new issue of bullets is greased with animal fat from pigs, which are unclean to Muslims, and cows, which are sacred to Hindus. The anti-British campaign spreads across India, causing much bloodshed. The British quell the rebellion. Bahadur Shah, last of the Mughal Emperors, is exiled to Burma. The reign of the East India Company comes to an end.

The British Raj: 1858-1947

1858                   The British Crown imposes direct rule and appoints a viceroy as the sovereign's representative
1869                   Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is born at Porbandar in Gujarat
1877                    Queen Victoria is proclaimed Empress of India
1885                   The first political party, the Indian National Congress, is founded
1906                   Foundation of the Muslim League
1911                    George V, King and Emperor, announces that the capital will be transferred from Calcutta to Delhi
1915                    Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, known as the "Mahatma" (great soul), returns from South Africa, and starts to campaign for passive resistance to British rule

1919 General Dyer orders his Gurkha troops to open fire on a peaceful but illegal anti-British protest meeting in Amritsar, killing 379 and wounding 1,200 people in the courtyard of Jalianwala Bagh. This proves catalytic to the Indian Independence movement

1922-1929 The first workers union is established. The Congress, inspired by Gandhi, goes to the masses for support and non-violence becomes the banner for the freedom movement

1930 Gandhi's "Quit India" drive gains momemtum with his Dandi Salt March from Ahmedabad to protest against taxes on Indian-produced salt

1931                     New Delhi inaugurated as the capital of India
1935                     Mohammed Ali Jinnah, head of the Muslim League, calls for a new Muslim nation of Pakistan
1937                      In the elections to the Provincial Assemblies, the Congress wins a majority, its relations with the Muslim League deteriorate
1939                     Congress refuses to support England during the World War II

1941 Congress revises position on World War and offers support in exchange for Independence. Gandhi disapproves and leaves Congress

1942 Negotiations between the Congress and British fail. Congress launches Quit India Movement, in which thousands of Congress leaders, including Gandhi, are imprisoned
1946 Congress wins the elections, Jawaharlal Nehru angers Jinnah who announces Direct Action day. This results in an outbreak of communal riots in Calcutta, with the violence spreading all across North India and Punjab is in flames
Independence: 1947-Present

15th August 1947 India gains independence from Britain at midnight on 15th August. Jawaharlal Nehru becomes her first Prime Minister. India is divided into two countries, the mainly Hindu nation of India and the Muslim nation of Pakistan. During Partition more than 10 million people migrate in each direction across the divided Punjab. Communal violence between Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims claims between 200,000 and 1,000,000 lives.

30th January 1948       Mahatma Gandhi is assasinated by a Hindu fanatic
1948                                India and Pakistan go to war over Kashmir
26th January 1950 India becomes a Republic and the Consitution comes into force
1954                                 France return Pondicerry, Mahe to India
1955                                 The Non-Aligned Movement is launched with India as a founding member
1961                                 The Indian Army takes over the last Portugese possession in India - Goa, Daman, Diu
1962                                 Indo-Chinese War
1964                                  Jawaharlal Nehru dies. Lal Bahadur Shastri becomes India's Prime Minister and in 1965, repulses Pakistan's attacks on India in the Rann of Kutch and Kashmir

1966                                   Indira Gandhi, Nehru's daughter, becomes Prime Minister
1971                                   War with East Pakistan leads to the creation of a new independent nation of Bangladesh
1975-1977                          Indira Gandhi imposes a State of Emergency, suspends civil liberties and imprisons her political opponents.                         She is defeated in the 1977 elections
1977-1979                         Janata Party comes to power under Morarji Desai
1980                                   Indira Gandhi returns as prime minister
1984                                    Sikhs demand independence for Punjab; 1,000 people die when the Indian army storms the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the holiest Sikh Shrine. Indira Gandhi is assasinated on 31st October. Her son, Rajiv Gandhi becomes prime minister

1988                                  New opposition party, Janata Dal, is established
1989                                  Congress-I loses majority in general election; Janata Dal forms minority government
1990                                  Communal and civil disturbances in Jammu and Kashmir and Assam. Religious violence in Punjab.
1991                                  Rajiv Gandhi is assasinated. Congress forms a minority goverment lead by Narasimha Rao
1992-1993                        Destruction of Babri Masjid in Ayodhaya by Hindu militants provokes riots nationwide
1996                                   The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) falls from power after two weeks in office. A leftist coalition under          Deve Gowda, later succeeded by I K Gujral, takes control.

1998 Election victory for BJP; their leader Atal Behari Vajpayee, becomes prime minister.

2002 Communal Riots in Gujarat come up with Vicotry of BJP and Leader Narendra Modi became CM

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