INDIA
Unit One (8000 BCE to 600 BCE)
- Indus (3000/2500 BCE to 1500 CE)
o Indus River Valley
o Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro
o Polytheistic: Hinduism
o Writing undeciphered
- Aryans (enter ~ 1700 BCE)
o Nomadic Indo-Europeans
o Est. racial mix – beginnings of
caste system
o Vedas
Unit Two (600 BCE to 600 CE)
- Develops into small regional kingdoms by
6th century BCE = decentralized
- Buddhism (Siddhartha Gautama) around
500 BCE
- Alexander invades (320s BCE)
- Mauryans (320s BCE to 2nd c. BCE)
o Fills power vacuum left by
Alexander when he leaves
o Chandragupta Maurya
o Ashoka converts to Buddhism and
facilitates trade
- Regional kingdoms with stability after
Ashoka dies
- Kushan Kingdom (~100 BCE to ~200 CE)
o Intermediary of Rome-China trade
in the north
- Gupta Empire (320 CE to 550 CE)
o Local gov’t in power
o Long distance trade on Silk Road
flourishes
o Sailors master monsoon winds to
Indonesia and SE Asia
o Patriarchal
o Missionaries spread Buddhism,
Hinduism eclipsed: Then
Buddhism declines
o Geometry, algebra, circumference
of earth, pi, zero, decimals,
“Arabic” numbers
o White Huns weaken power
Unit Three (600 to 1450)
- Mahmud of Ghazni (997-1030)
- Delhi Sultanate peak – 1220
- Mongol invasion of northern India – 1221
- Tughlug dynasty (1320-1413)
- Invasion of Tamerlane – 1398
Unit Four (1450 to 1750)
- Early to mid 1500s trading posts being set
up by Western Europe
- Mughal India (1523 to mid-1700s)
o Babur founder – descendant of
Turkic nomads
o Akbar
 Religious cooperation
 Abolished jizya
 Patron of arts
o Jahangir
o Shah Jahan
 Taj Mahal
o Aurangzeb (Shah Jahan’s son)
 Tried to rid India of Hindu
influences
 Drained treasury and
peasant uprisings
Unit Five (1750 to 1900)
- British East India Company enjoyed
monopoly on English trade with India
- Sepoy Mutiny/Rebellion 1857
- Elites educated in British universities
inspired by Enlightenment ideas criticized
British regime
- Indian National Congress (1885)
- All-Indian Muslim League
Unit Six (1900 to present)
- 1909 wealthy Indians given right to vote,
but reform had become mass movement
- Government of India Act 1919
- 1919 Amritsar Massacre occurs after a
crack down on freedom of press and
assembly
- Mohandas Gandhi and ahimsa and civil
disobedience
- August 15, 1947: independence granted to
India; religious differences split it into 2
states: India (Nehru-Hindu) and Pakistan
(Mohammad Ali Jinnah-Islam)
- Mass migration leads to violence and
Gandhi is assassinated
- Today, these two nations still fighting, esp.
in Kashmir along border: Issues? Religious
self-determination and nuclear capabilities