Indian History

B.C.
2300-1750	Indus Valley Civilization.
From 1500	Coming of the Aryans.
1200-800	Expansion of the Aryans in the Ganga Valley.
600	Age of the 16 Mahajanapadas of Northern India.
563-483	Bddha’s Life-span.
540-468	Mahavir’s Life-span
362-321	Nanda dynasty.
327-326	Alexander’s invasion of India. It opened a land route between India and Europe.
322	Accession of Chandragupta Maurya.
305	Defeat of Seleucus at the hands of Chandragupta Maurya.
273-232	Ashoka’s reign.
261	Conquest of Kalinga.
145-101	Regin of Elara, the Chola king of Sri Lanka.
58	Beginning of Vikram era.
AD
78	Beginning of Saka era.
78-101	Kanishka’s reign.
319-320	Commecement of Gupta era.
380	Accession of Chandragupta II ‘Vikramaditya’
405-411	Visit of Chinese traveller Fahien.
415	Accession of Kumargupta I.
455	Accessuib of Skandagupta.
606-647	Harshavardhan’s reign.

II. MEDIEVAL

B.C.
712	First invasion in Sindh by Arabs (Mohd. Bin Qasim).
836	Accession of King Bhoja of Kannauj.
985	Accession of Rajaraja, the Chola ruler.
998	Accession of Sultan Mahmud Ghazni.
1001	First invasion of India by Mahmud Ghazni who defeated Jaipal, ruler of Punjab.
1025	Destruction of Somnath Temple by Mahmud Ghazni.
1191	First battle of Tarain.
1192	Second battle of Tarain.
1206	Accession of Qutubuddin Aibak to the throne of Delhi.
1210	Death of Qutubuddin Aibak.
1221	Chengiz Khan invaded India (Mongol invasion).
1236	Accession of Razia Sultana to the throne of Delhi.
1240	Death of Razia Sultana.
1296	Accession of Alauddin Khilji.
1316	Death of Alauddin Khilji.
1325	Accession of Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq.
1327	Transfer of capital from Delhi to Devagiri (Daulatabad) in Deccan by the Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq.
1336	Foundation of Vijaynagar empire in the South.
1351	Accession of Firoz Shah Tughlaq.
1398	Timur’s invasion of India.
1469	Birth of Guru Nanak.
1494	Accession of Babur in Farghana.
1497-98	First voyage of Vasco da Gama to India (discovery of sea route to India via the Cape of Good Hope).
1526	First Battle of Panipat; Babur defeated Ibrahim Lodhi; foundation of Mughal dynasty by Babur.
1527	Battle of Khanwa-Babur defeated Rana Sanga.
1530	Death of Babur and accession of Humayun.
1539	Sher Shah Suri defeated Humayun in the battle of Chausa and became India’s emperor.
1555	Humayun recaptured the throne of Delhi.
1556	Second Battle of Panipat (Bairam Khan defeated Hemu).
1556	Battle of Talikota (Rakshasa – Tangadi).
1576	Battle of Haldighati-Rana Pratap was defeated by Akbar.
1582	Din-i-Ilahi founded by Akbar.
1600	English East India Company established.
1605	Death of Akbar and accession of Jahangir.
1606	Execution of Guru Arjun Dev, the 5th Guru of Sikhs.
1611	Jahangir marries Nurjahan.
1615	Sir Thomas Roe visits Jahangir.
1627	Birth of Shivaji and death of Jahangir.
1628	Shahjahan become emperor of India.
1631	Death of Mumtazmahal.
1634	The English permitted to trade in India (in Bengal).
1659	Accession of Aurangzeb, Shahjhan imprisoned.
1665	Shivaji imprisoned by Aurangzeb.
1666	Death of Shahjahan
1675	Execution of Guru Teg Bahadur, the 9th Guru of Sikhs.
1680	Death of Shivaji.
1707	Death of Aurangzeb.
1708	Death of Guru Gobind Singh the 10th Guru of Sikhs.
1739	Nadir Shah invades India.
1757	Battle of Plassey, establishment of British political rule in India at the hands of Lord Clive.
1761	Third battle of Panipat.
1764	Battle of Buxar.
1765	Clive appointed Company’s Govenror in India.
1767-69	First Anglo-Mysore War.
1780	Birth of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
1780-84	Second Anglo-Mysore War.
1784	Pitt’s India Act.
1790-92	Third Anglo-Mysore War.
1793	The Permanent Settlement of Bengal.
1799	Fourth Anglo-Mysore War; Death of Tipu Sultan.
1802	Treaty of Bassein.
1809	Treaty of Amritsar.
1829	Practice of Sati Phohibited.
1830	Raja Rammohan Roy visits England.
1833	Death of Raja Rammohan Roy at Bristol, England.
1839	Death of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
1839-42	First Anglo-Afghan War.
1845-46	First Anglo-Sikh War.
1852	Second Anglo-Burmese War.
1853	First Railway line opened between Bombay and Thane and a Telegraph line in Calcutta.
1857	The Sepoy Mutiny or First War of Independence.
1861	Birth of Rabindranath Tagore.
1869	Birth of Mahatma Gandhi.
1885	Foundation of Indian National Congress.
1889	Birth of Jawaharlal Nehru
1897	Birth of Subhash Chandra Bose.
1903	Tibet Expedition.
1905	Paritition of Bengal by Lord Curzon.
1906	Foundation of Muslim League.
1911	Delhi Darbar, King George V and Queen visit India; Delhi becomes the capital of India.
1914	World War I begins.
1916	Lucknow Pact signed by Muslim League and Congress, Foundation of BHU, Home Rule League founded.
1918	World War I ends.
1919	Montague-Chelmsford Reforms introduced, Jalllianwala Bagh massacre at Amritsar.
1920	Khilafat Movement launched, first meeting of All India Trade Union Congress, Hunter Commission Report on Jallianwala Bagh Massacre Published First Non-cooperation movement launched by Gandhi.
1922	Violent incidents at Chaura Chauri Gandhi calls of Non-cooperation movement.
1925	Communist Party of India organized at Kanpur.
1927	Boycott of Simon Commission, Broadcasting started in India.
1928	Death of Lala Lajpat Rai, Nehru Report.
1929	Resolution of ‘Poorna Swaraj’ (complete independence) passed at Lahore Session of INC.
1930	Civil disobedience movement launched, Dandhi March by Mahatma Gandhi (April 6, 1930) First round table conference held in London.
1931	Gandhi-Irwin Pact, Civil Disobedience movement suspended Second round table conference held.
1932	Mac Donald announces communal award (modified by Poona Pact, September 24).
1935	Government of India Act.
1937	Provincial Autonomy, Congress forms ministries.
1938	All India Kishan Sabha formed.
1939	World War II begins (September 3), Resignation of Congress Ministries in Provinces.
1941	Escape of Subhash Chandra Bose from India and death of Rabindranath Tagore.
1942	Arrival of Cripps Mission in India, Quit India movement launched (August 8).
1943-44	SC Bose forms Provincial Government of Free India and Indian National Army in Singapore; Bengal famine.
1945	Trial of Indian National Army at Red Fort, Shimla Conference; World War II ends.
1946	British Cabinet Mission visits India; Interim government formed at the Centre. The Muslim League decides on “Direct Action” for winiing Pakistan.
1947	Division of India; India and Pakistan form separate independent dominions.

THE GANDHIAN ERA (1917-47)

MAHATMA GANDHI (1869-1948)

CHRONOLOGICAL OVERVIEW IN SOUTH AFRICA: 1893-1914

YEAR
1893	Departure of Gandhi to South Africa.
1894	Foundation of Natal Indian Congress.
1899	Foundation of Indian Ambulance Core during Boer Wars.
1904	Foundation of Indian Opinon (magazine) and Phoenix Farm, at phoenix, near Durban.
1906	First Civil Disobedience Movement (Satyagaraha) against Asiatic Ordiannce in Transvaal.
1907	Satyagraha against Compulsory Registration and Passes for Asians (the Black Act) in Transvaal.
1908	Trial and imprisonment-Johanesburg Jail (First Jail Term).
1910	Foundation of Tolstoy Farm (Later-Gandhi Asharama), near Johanesburg.
1913	Satyagraha against derecognition of non-Christian marriages in Cape Town.
1914	Quits South Africa forever and returns to India, Awarded Kaisar-i-Hind for raising an Indian Ambulance Core during Boer war

IN INDIA: 1915-18 I. ANCIENT

YEAR
1915	Arrived in Bombay (India) on 9 January 1915; Foundation of Satyagraha Ashrama at Kocharab near Ahmedabad (20 May). In 1917, Ashrama shifted at the banks of Sabarmati; All India tour.
1916	Abstain from active politics (though he attended Lucknow session of INC held in 26-30 December, 1916, where Raj Kumar Shukla, a cultivator from Bihar, requested him to come to Champaran).
1917	Gandhi entered active politics with Champaran campaign to redress grievances of the cultivators oppressed by Indigo planter of Bihar (April 1917). Champaran Satyagraha was his first Civil Disobedience Movement in India.
1918	In February 1918, Gandhi launched the struggle in Ahmedbad which involved industrial workers. Hunger strike as a weapon was used for the first time by Gandhi during Ahmedabad struggle. In March 1918, Gandhi worked for peasants of Kheda in Gujarat who were facing difficulties in paying the rent owing to failure of crops. Kheda Satyagraha was his first Non-Cooperation Movement.
1919	Gandhi gave a call for Satyagraha against the Rowlatt Act on April 6, 1919 and took the command of the nationalist movement for the first time (First all-India Political Movement), Gandhi returns Kaisar-i-Hind gold medal as a protest against Jallianwala Bagh massacre – April 13, 1919; The All India Khilafat Conference elected Gandhi as its president (November 1919, Delhi).
1920-22	Gandhi leads the Non-Cooperation and Khilafat Movement (August 1, 1920 – February 1922), Gandhi calls off Movement (Feb. 12, 1922), after the violent incident at Chauri-Chaura on February 5, 1922. Non-Cooperation Movement was First mass based politics under Gandhi.
1924	Belgaum (Karnataka) session of INC-for the first and the last time Gandhi was elected the president of the Congress.
1925-27	Gandhi retires from active politics for the first time and devotes himself to ‘constructive programme’ of the Congress; Gandhi resumes active politics in 1927.
1930-34	Gandhi launches the Civil Disobedience Movement with his Dandi march/ Salt Satyagraha (First Phase: March 12, 1930 – March 5, 1931; Gandhi-Irwin Pact: March 5, 1931; Gandhi attends the Second Round Table Conference in London as sole representative of the Congress: September 7 – December 1, 1931; Second Phase: January 3, 1932 – April 17, 1934).
1934-39	Gandhi retires from active politics, sets up Sevagram (Vardha Ashram).
1939	Gandhi resumes active politics.
1940-41	Gandhi launches Individual Satyagraha Movement.
1942	Call to Quit India Movement for which Gandhi raised the slogan, ‘Do or Die’ (Either free India or die in the attempt), Gandhi and all Congress leaders arrested (August 9, 1942).
1942-44	Gandhi kept in detention at the Aga Khan Palace, near Pune (August 9, 1942 – May, 1944). Gandhi lost his wife Kasturba (February 22, 1944) and private secretary Mahadev Desai; this was Gandhi’s last prison term.
1945	Gandhi’s influence on the Congress wanes perceptively after 1945.
1946	Deeply distressed by theory of communal violence, as a result Muslim League’s Direct Action call, Gandhi travelled to Noakhali (East Bengal-now Bangladesh) and later on to Calcutta to restore communal peace.
1947	Gandhi, deeply distressed by the Mountbatten Plan / Partition Plan (June 3, 1947), while staying in Calcutta to restore communal violence, observes complete silence on the dawn of India’s Independence (August, 15, 1947). Gandhi returns to Delhi (September 1947).
1948	Gandhi was shot dead by Nathu Ram Godse, a member of RSS, while on his way to the evening prayer meeting at Birla House, New Delhi (January 30, 1948). He died, with ‘Hey Ram’ on his lips.