History of India

 02.  History of India 

The Bhimbetka rock field is a remarkable milestone of the oldest known human settlement in India in the state of Madhya Pradesh. People lived in India a million years ago. Permanent human settlements developed in the country about 9000 years ago, which over time took the form of the famous Indus Valley Civilization in the history of western India. The estimated period of this civilization is 3300 BC. Then the Vedic age began in India. It was during this period that Hinduism and other cultural features of ancient Indian society emerged. The Vedic period is supposedly ended around 500 BC. Many independent monarchies and democracies called Mahajanapadas were established in India around 550 BC.

Ajanta cave paintings; Aurangabad; Maharashtra; Christian sixth century

In the third century BC, the lion's share of South Asia was united under the Maurya Empire founded by Chandragupta Maurya and ruled by Ashoka. The reign of the Gupta emperors in the third century AD was known as the Golden Age of ancient India. Besides, empires like Pala in eastern India and Chalukya, Chola and Vijayanagar in Deccan were formed. Under the patronage of all these kings, science, technology, art, literature, astronomy and philosophy flourished.

Islam entered India from Central Asia between the tenth and twelfth centuries AD. As a result, the whole of northern India became part of the Sultanate and later of the Mughal Empire. During the reign of Mahamati Akbar, just as cultural and economic progress was initiated in the country; religious harmony between Hindus and Muslims was also established. Gradually the Mughal emperors were able to establish their rights over a large part of the subcontinent. However, the Ahom dynasty of Assam, which dominated the north-east, and a few other states were able to successfully resist the Mughal aggression.

From the sixteenth century, European powers like Portugal, the Netherlands, France and the United Kingdom began to set up trading posts in India. Later on, taking advantage of the internal political turmoil in the country, they were able to establish a colony in India. Most of the Indians had been annexed by the British East India Company during the year 1857. A year later, a national coup movement took place between the Indian sepoys and the native states. This event in the history of India is known as the first Indian War of Independence or Sepoy Mutiny. Although the movement failed, it exposed the weaknesses of the Company's rule in the country. As a result, the whole India was brought under the British Rule.

In the twentieth century, the Indian National Congress and other political organizations started the independence movement across the country. Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi along with millions of people started a non-violent national law-breaking national movement. The struggle of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and the Azad Hind Fauj at the end of the independence movement is a glorious chapter in the history of India. Finally, India got liberation from the British rule on 15 August 1947. At the same time the state of Pakistan was formed by dividing the Muslim inhabitants of the eastern and western parts of the country. With the introduction of the new constitution on 26 January 1950, the Democratic Republic of India was established.

After independence, religious intolerance, caste, Naxalism, terrorism and the uprising of regional separatists in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and the Northeast took root in the country. India's urban areas have been the victims of this violence since the 1990s. The Indo-China War of 1962 intensified the dispute with China and the Pak-India War of 1947, 1965, 1971 and 1999 intensified the border dispute with Pakistan. India is one of the founding members of the United Nations (as British-India) and the Non-Aligned Movement. India established itself as a nuclear power by conducting an underground nuclear test in 1974 and five more in 1998. The economic reforms that began in 1991 have made it one of the fastest growing economies in the world.

*****

Read also: 🔎

👉 History of India

👉 History behind the name of India

👉 Chola Dynasty: Origin, Early History and Decline