EARLY CIVILISATION
| c. 2500-1600 BC |
Civilisation established in the Indus Valley with the cities of Harappa Mohenjodaro. |
| c. 1500 BC |
Aryans invade northern India. Hindu sacred texts of the Vedas are written |
| c. 563 BC |
Birth of Gautama Siddharatha (Buddha). |
| 521-486 BC |
The Persian King, Darius, occupies Punjab and Sind. Buddhism and Jainism develop. |
| 321-184 BC |
Northern India is ruled by the Mauryan emperors; the most notable in Ashoka(269-232 BC). |
| AD 319-606 |
Gupta Empire is established in the north. Science, Literature and arts flourish. |
| 550-1190 |
Chalukyas and Rashtrakas rule central India from Karnataka. Pallavas and Cholas rule the south and established trading links with Indonesia. |
THE RAJPUT PERIOD: 900-1200
| C. 850 |
Anangpal builds Lal Kot, Delhi's first city. |
| 1000-1300 |
Hoysala Empire rules the South. |
| 1192 |
Muhammed of Ghor invades the north and makes Qtab-ud-Din Aibak Delhi's first ruler. |
THE DELHI SULTANATE
| 1206 |
Qtab-ud-Din becomes sultan of Delhi. His dynasty is overthrown in 1296 by Feroz Shah, a Turk, who builds Delhi's second city east of lal Kot |
| 1321 |
Ghias-ud-Din Tughlaq is proclaimed sultan. He starts building Tughlaqabad, the third city of Delhi |
| 1325 |
Muhammaed-bin Tughlaq becomes sultan and builds Jahanpath, the fourth city.In 1351 Feroz Shah Tughlq builds Ferozabad, the fifth city. |
| 1414 |
Power passes to the sayyids. |
| 1451 |
Buhlbal Lodi, an Afgan Nobel, captures the throne and founds Lodhi dynasty. |
| 14th-16th centuries |
Islam is established throughout the north. The south remains independent under the Hindu Vijayanager dynasty. |
| 1498 |
Vasco de Gama established Portuguese trading posts, followed by the Dutch, French and English. |
THE MUGHAL DYNASTY: 1526-1857
| 1526 |
Babur, a warload from samarkand, defeats the Sultan of Delhi at the Battle of Panipat, and proclaims himself the Mughal emperor. |
| 1540 |
Humayan 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 built the red Fort in his capital city, Agra . Meanwhil, Muslim forces bring down the Vijayanager dynasty in the south, which in turn is conquered by the Mughals. |
| 1569-74 |
Akbar builds his "dream city" of Fatehpur Sirki, near Agra, and moves his capital there, but the court returns to Agra ten years later. Akbar then starts to build his tomb at Sikandra. |
| 1600 |
Queen Elizabeth I grants a trading charter to the British East India Company, and in 16o8 English merchants set up a trading base at Surat in Gujarat. |
| 1605 |
Akbar is succeeded by his son, Jahangir. |
| 1627 |
Shan Jahan, Akbar's grandson, becomes emperor. In 1632 he starts to build the Taj Mahal in memory of his wife. In 1638 he moves the capital from Agra to Delhi and lays the foundations for Shahjahanbad, the seventh city. He begins work on Lal Qila (the red fort) in 1639 |
| 1659-1707 |
Aurangzeb becomes emperor by imprisoning his father, Shah Jahan, in the Red For, Agra, and killing his brothers. Following his death the Mughal empire declines. Calcutta begins to expand as a trading post of East India Company |
| 1739 |
Nadir Shah, a Persian king, invades Delhi and slaughters 30,000 residents of Shanjahanbad before returning to persia with the Peacock Throne. |
| 1756-63 |
In the Seven Years' War the British East india Company ousts the French from Bengal. |
| 1857 |
India Mutiny breaks out in Meerut, where sepoys are incited by a rumour that a new issue of bullets is greased is with animal fat from pigs, which are sacred to Hindus. |
THE BRITISH RAJ: 1858-1947
| 1858 |
The British crown impress direct rule and appoints a viceroy as the sovereign's representative . |
| 1877 |
Queen Victoria is proclaimed empress of India. |
| 1885 |
The First political party, the India National Congress, is founded. |
| 1911 |
George V, King and Emperor, announces that the capital will be transferred from Calcutta to Delhi. |
| 1915 |
Mohandas Gandhi, Known as 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 Jaliyanwala Bagh. |
| 1930 |
Gandhi's "Quit India" drive gains momentum 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. |
INDEPENDENCE (1947 to present)
| 1947 |
India gains independence from British at midnight on 15 August. Jawaharlal Nehru become its first prime minister. |
| 1948 |
Mahatma Gandhi is assassinated on 30 January by a Hindu fanatic |
| 1950 |
The constitution of India comes into force. |
| 1964 |
Nehru dies. in 1965, his successor, Lal Bahadur ,repulses Pakistan's attacks on India in the Rann of Kutch and Kashmir. |
PRECENDING PAGES: mural of a royal hunt, jodhpur.
| Left |
The son of the Nawab of Banda c. 1844 |
| Right |
Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948), leader of India's campaign for home rule . |
| 1966 |
Indira Gandhi, Nehru's daughter (no relation to Mahatma Gandhi) becomes prime minister. |
| 1971 |
War with east Pakistan leads to the creation of the new independent nation of Bangladesh. |
| 1975-77 |
Indira Gandhi imposes a State of Emergency, suspends civil liberties and imprisons her political opponents. She is defeated in the 1977 elections. |
| 1977-79 |
Janata Party in power under Desai. |
| 1980 |
Indira 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 assassinated on 31 October. Her son, Rajiv Gandhi , becomes prime minister. |
| 1988 |
New opposition Party, Janata Dal, 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 assassinated. Congress forms a minority government led by Narasimha Rao. |
| 1992-93 |
Destruction of Babri mosque in Ayodhya by Hindu militants provokes riots nationwide. |
| 1996 |
Right-wing Hindu nationalist Bharitya Janata Party(BJP) falls from power after two weeks in office. A leftist coalition under Deve Gowda,later succeeded by IK Gujral, Takes control. |
| 1998 |
Election victory for BJP; their leader Atal Behari Vajpayee becomes prime minister. |
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