| BCE |
|
| ca. 2500 |
Indus River civilization: Harappa and Mohenjo Daro |
| ca. 1500 |
Aryan Invasions: Aryans "nobles"
"landowners" |
| 326 |
Alexander "the Great's"
invasion |
| 400-0 |
Maurya Empire (Ashoka) |
| 500 B.C.E.– C.E. 800 |
Buddhism principal
religion |
| C.E. |
|
| 320-500 |
Guptas unite northern India
(Kushan dynasty) |
| 450 |
Hun, Arabic, Persian, &
Afghani invasions begin |
| 1206-1526 |
Muslim sultanate established
in Delhi |
| 1498 |
Vasco da Gama begins Portuguese
trade with India |
| 1526 |
Moghul rule established by
Babar |
| 1556 |
Akbar (grandson of Babar)
ascends throne for 49 years: rule marked by religious tolerance |
| 1600s |
Attacks by Marathas coincide
with decline of empire |
| 1600 |
British East India Company
established |
| 1700s |
British East India Company
steps into disintegrating political climate of 1700s |
| 1800-57 |
East India Company wages wars
against Afghanistan, Burma, Nepal, Punjab, Kashmir, etc.:
"Westernization" of India |
| 1857 |
Sepoy Rebellion/Mutiny/1st
War of Independence |
| 1858 |
British government takes over
rule of India from British East India Company |
| 1870s |
growth of Indian independence
movement |
| 1885 |
Indian National Congress founded |
| 1906 |
Muslim League organized |
| 1920 |
Mohandas Gandhi becomes leader
of the Indian National Congress and starts a program of non-violent disobedience
against the British |
| 1935 |
The British government creates
a new Indian constitution that gives Indians more political power |
| 1940 |
Muslim League demands a separate
Muslim country, Pakistan, be created out of the new Indian entity |
| |
|
| 1947 |
14 August: India becomes independent,
Jawaharlal Nehru becomes India's first prime minister |
| |
15 August: Dominion of East and West Pakistan
created, Mohammed Jinnah becomes Pakistan's first prime minister |
| 1947-49 |
India and Pakistan fight over
Kashmir |
| 1948 |
Mohandas Gandhi is assassinated |
| 1950 |
India becomes a republic |
| 1956 |
Pakistan becomes a republic |
| 1958 |
General Ayub Khan seizes control of Pakistan |
| 1962 |
China invades northern sections
of India (partly repulsed) |
| 1965 |
India and Pakistan fight again
over Kashmir |
| 1966 |
Indira Gandhi, daughter of
Jawaharlal Nehru, becomes India's first woman prime minister |
| 1969 |
Yahya Khan seizes control from General Ayub Khan |
| 1971 |
India assists East Pakistan
to secede from Pakistan, creation of Bangladesh |
| 1972 |
Civilian rule returns to Pakistan with Zulfikar Ali Bhutto |
| 1975-77 |
Emergency proclamation |
| 1977 |
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi
and Congress Party defeated in federal parliamentary elections |
| 1979 |
General Zia ul Haq overthrows and executes Bhutto |
| 1980 |
Indira Gandhi regains prime
ministership with Congress (I) Party |
| |
Sikhs in Punjab demand independence |
| 1984 |
Indian troops occupy Sikh's
holiest place of worship, Indira Gandhi is assassinated, her son, Rajiv
Gandhi, succeeds her |
| 1988 |
General Zia ul Haq killed in a plane crash. Benazir Bhutto becomes Prime Minister |
| 1990 |
Rajiv Gandhi's faction of
the Congress Party loses national election |
| |
Vishwanath Pratap Singh of
the National Front (an alliance of several political parties) becomes
Prime Minister; during summer, the alliance
falls apart when a Hindu fundamentalist faction (the Bharatiya Janata
Party) attempts to destroy a Muslim Mosque in order to build a Hindu temple)
withdraws support for the National Front |
| |
Chandra Shekhar forms a minority
government and becomes Prime Minister of India |
| 1991 |
March: Chandra Shekhar steps
down and calls elections |
| 1991 |
May: Rajiv Gandhi assassinated
while campaigning in Southern India |
| 1991 |
Fall: Congress Party regains
control of parliament, Narasimha Rao becomes prime minister |
| 1992 |
Fall: Hindu fundamentalists
destroy Babri Masjid at Ayodhya; India erupts in several weeks of Hindu-Muslim
riots |
| 2001 |
General Parvez Musharraf seizes control of Pakistan |
| 2008 |
Musharraf steps down, Yousaf Raza Gillani becomes Prime Minister. Asif Ali Zardari becomes President |
| |
|
| |
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