Literature of India and More: Timeline

2500 BC   Dravidian civilization

1500 BC    Aryans invade India and conquered the Dravidians

1400 BC   The Vedas, the Hindu scripture, was written

800   BC    800-600, the Sacred scripture, the Upanishads written

518   BC    Persians conquered Pakistan

500   BC    Buddhism was founded in India by Siddhartha Guatama

500   BC    Jainism was founded in India by Mahavira Jains

326   BC    Alexander the Great moved into India

324   BC    Mauyan Empire was established Chandragupta Maurya including Afghanistan and parts of central Asia

272    BC     Ashoka, the grandson of Chandragupta Maurya, becomes the emperor of India

185    BC     The Maurya Empire ended

 50      AD   The Kushans established an empire in northern India

320            The Gupta Indian dynasty reunited northern India initiating the "golden Age" of India

700s           Muslim armies from Arabia invade Arabia   

1206           Qutb ub-din Aybak establishes the Delhi Sultanate

1398           Timur conquered India resulting in the decline of the Delhi Sultanate

1498           Vasco Da Gama becomes the first European explorer to reach India

1500s         Christianity was introduced to India by the Europeans and in the early 1500s Sikhism was founded   by Nana

1526           Babur established the Mughal Empire

1600           Queen Elizabeth I granted a charter to the East India Company established trading posts in Bombay, Calcutta, Madras

1628           Shah Jahan, the ruler of the Mughal Empire, builds the Taj Mahal

1658           The Strict Muslim, Aurangzeb, ruled India and tried to force Hindus to convert to Islam

1757           The Battle of Plassey: Robert Clive, an agent of the East India Company, leads forces which defeated the Mughal governor of Bengal         

1774            Warren Hastings appointed the first governor of India by the East India Company

1857            The Sepoy Rebellion

1858            The British government ruled India via an Indian Viceroy called the British Raj 

1885             Indian National Congress founded as forum for emerging nationalist feeling

Read a brief biography about Mohandas 'Mahatma' Gandhi - the father of the Indian nation. Discover facts about his life history, beliefs and assassination.