TLaH Timelines Directions1. CW DAY #1: Research these dates using the internet. You need a

basic understanding of each date. You may use both scholarly and non-scholarly sources, but make sure your information is accurate. You may work on these in groups and share your notes.

2. HW Day #1: Individually select 10 dates you think are the most important to the development of the region. Write short justifications about why you have selected these events.

3. CW Day #2: Debate in your groups until you agree on 5-6 (depending on how many people you have in your group) events that everyone in your group agrees are the most essential to the development of the region. Assign 1 event to each person in your group.

4. HW Day #2: Write a justification of why this event is essential to the development of the region…Think: Because… Then…. So, ….No more than 10 sentences, No less than 4!!

5. CW Day #3: Peer-edit! Revise! Peer-edit again! Write a final draft!6. HW Day #3: Construct your timeline!

2500 B.C.E.

The Indus Valley civilization develops (the Dravidian civilization) around the valley of the Indus River

(now in Pakistan). Its trade is based on crops grown on the fertile river plains. It reaches the height of its power and is larger than any other ancient empire,

including that of Egypt.

2000 B.C.E.

The Indus Valley civilization collapses, possibly due to severe floods or a change in the course of the Indus

River.

1500 B.C.E.

The Aryan people, who come from the region between and including India and

Europe, invade India from the north. They spread through the Indus Valley and down

into the Ganges Valley.

1400 B.C.E.

The Vedas, the Hindu scripture, is written down.

800 B.C.E.

The sacred scripture, the Upanishads are written down.

518 B.C.E.

Persians conquer Pakistan

500 B.C.E.

Buddhism is founded in India by Siddhartha Gautama.

500 B.C.E.

Jainism is founded in India by Mahavira Jains.

326 B.C.E.

Alexander the Great of Macedon (northeastern Greece) crosses the

Indus River into India.

324 B.C.E.

The Mauryan Empire was established by Chandragupta

Maurya including Afghanistan and parts of central Asia

185 B.C.E.

The Maurya Empire ends.  

50 B.C.E.

Trade flourishes between India and the Roman Empire. Romans eagerly buy Indian pearls, ivory, silk, spices, cloth

and precious stones.

50

The Kushans establish an empire in northern India  

320 - 550

After centuries of being split into small kingdoms and republics, India is ruled by the Gupta Empire.

Under the rule of the Gupta kings, Hinduism becomes the major religion of the empire. The

“Golden Age” of India is initiated with advancements in literature, art, architecture and

science flourish during this "classical age" of peace and prosperity.

1498

Vasco de Gama becomes the first European explorer to reach India by

sea.

1500

Sikhism was founded by Nana

1526

The rule of the Mogul Empire begins, unifying much of south India with the

north for the first time.

1600

Queen Elizabeth I granted a charter to the East India

Company established trading posts in Bombay, Calcutta, and

Madras

1600

Eager to gain access to India's spices, rice, silk, tea and jewels, Holland,

Great Britain and France establish key trading posts in India.

1638

Mogul Emperor Shah Jahan begins construction of the Taj Mahal in

memory of his wife Mumtaz.

1658

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

convert to Islam.

1857

The Sepoy Rebellion

1858The British overthrow the Moguls and

take control of India..

1885

Indian National Congress founded.

1885

Burma becomes an Indian province

1905

The British government divided Bengal into separate Hindu and

Muslim sections

1915After studying law in Britain and fighting for Indian rights in South

Africa, Mohandas Gandhi launches a campaign of nonviolent resistance

against British rule in India. Gandhi is called Mahatma, meaning "Great

Soul."

1920Nationalist figurehead Mahatma Gandhi launches anti-British civil

disobedience campaign.

1940

Muhammad Ali Jinnah demands that a new country be formed from India for the Muslims, which would be called

Pakistan.

1942Congress launches "Quit India" movement.

1947End of British rule and partition of sub-continent into mainly Hindu India and

Muslim-majority state of Pakistan.

1947

Hundreds of thousands die in widespread communal bloodshed after

partition.

1948

Mahatma Gandhi assassinated by Hindu extremist.

1948

War with Pakistan over disputed territory of

Kashmir.

1962

India loses brief border war with China.

1965

Second war with Pakistan over Kashmir.

1966

Indira Gandhi (not related to Mahatma) and former Prime Minister Nehru’s

daughter becomes Prime Minister and one of the first women elected to lead

a nation.

1971Third war with Pakistan over creation

of Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan.

1971

Twenty-year treaty of friendship signed with Soviet

Union.

1974

India explodes first nuclear device in underground test.

1975Nearly 1,000 political opponents imprisoned and programme of

compulsory birth control introduced.

1977

Indira Gandhi's Congress Party loses general elections.

1980Indira Gandhi returns to power heading

Congress party splinter group, Congress (Indira).

1984Troops storm Golden Temple - Sikhs' most holy shrine - to flush out Sikh

militants pressing for self-rule.

1984Indira Gandhi assassinated by Sikh

bodyguards, following which her son, Rajiv, takes over.

1987India deploys troops for peacekeeping operation in Sri Lanka's ethnic conflict.

1990

Muslim separatist groups begin campaign of violence in Kashmir.

1991

Rajiv Gandhi assassinated by suicide bomber sympathetic to Sri

Lanka's Tamil Tigers.

1992

Hindu extremists demolish mosque in Ayodhya, triggering

widespread Hindu-Muslim violence.

1998

India carries out nuclear tests, leading to widespread

international condemnation.

1999

Vajpayee makes historic bus trip to Pakistan to meet Premier Nawaz Sharif

and to sign bilateral Lahore peace declaration.

2000

India marks the birth of its billionth citizen.

2001A high-powered rocket is launched,

propelling India into the club of countries able to fire big satellites deep into space.

2001 SeptemberUS lifts sanctions which it imposed against

India and Pakistan after they staged nuclear tests in 1998. The move is seen as a reward

for their support for the US-led anti-terror campaign.

2001

December - India, Pakistan mass troops on common border amid

mounting fears of a looming war.

2002

India successfully test-fires a nuclear-capable ballistic missile - the Agni - off

its eastern coast.

2002Inter-religious bloodshed breaks out after 59 Hindu pilgrims returning from Ayodhya are killed in a train

fire in Godhra, Gujarat. More than 1,000 people, mainly Muslims, die in subsequent violence. Police

and officials blamed the fire on a Muslim mob, but a 2005 government investigation said it was an

accident. In 2012 a court convicts 32 people over the Naroda Patiya riots in Ahmedabad.

2002

UK, US urge their citizens to leave India and Pakistan, while maintaining

diplomatic offensive to avert war.

2002

Retired scientist and architect of India's missile programme APJ Abdul

Kalam is elected president.

2003

At least 50 people are killed in two simultaneous bomb blasts in Bombay.

2003

India matches Pakistan's declaration of a Kashmir ceasefire.

2004

Surprise victory for Congress Party in general elections. Manmohan Singh is

sworn in as prime minister.

2004

India, along with Brazil, Germany and Japan, launches an application for a permanent seat on the UN Security

Council.

2004

India begins to withdraw some of its troops from Kashmir.

2005

Bombs kill 62 people in Delhi. A little-known Kashmiri group says it is behind

the attacks.

2006

US and India sign a nuclear agreement during a visit by US President George W Bush. The US gives India access to civilian nuclear technology while India

agrees to greater scrutiny for its nuclear programme.

2006

More than 180 people are killed in bomb attacks on rush-hour trains in Mumbai. Investigators blame Islamic

militants based in Pakistan.

2006

US President George W Bush approves a controversial law allowing India to buy US nuclear reactors and fuel for

the first time in 30 years.

2007

India and Pakistan sign an agreement aimed at reducing the risk of

accidental nuclear war.

2007

Maoist rebels in Chhattisgarh state kill more than 50 policemen in a dawn

attack.

2007

Pratibha Patil becomes first woman to be elected president of India.

2008

Following approval by the US Congress, President George W Bush signs into law a nuclear deal with

India, which ends a three-decade ban on US nuclear trade with Delhi.

2008

Nearly 200 people are killed and hundreds injured in a series of co-ordinated attacks by

gunmen on the main tourist and business area of India's financial capital Mumbai.

India blames militants from Pakistan for the attacks and demands that Islamabad act

against those responsible.

2008

India announces "pause" in peace process with Pakistan. Indian cricket

team cancels planned tour of Pakistan.

2009

India and Russia sign deals worth $700m, according to which Moscow

will supply uranium to Delhi.

2009

Pakistani, Indian premiers pledge to work together to fight terror

irrespective of progress on improving broader ties.

2009

A Dehli court rules that homosexual intercourse between consenting adults is not criminal, overturning a 148-year-

old colonial law.

2010

The sole surviving gunman of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, Ajmal Amir Qasab, is convicted of murder, waging war on

India and possessing explosives.

2010

Allahabad High Court rules that the disputed holy site of Ayodhya should be divided

between Hindus and Muslims; the destruction of a mosque on the site by Hindu

extremists in 1992 led to rioting in which about 2,000 people died.

2011

Prominent social activist Anna Hazare stages 12-day hunger strike in Delhi in

protest at state corruption.

2012

British author Sir Salman Rushdie cancels an appearance at a literary

festival in India in response to threats from Islamic extremists who object to

his book The Satanic Verses.

2012

Police in Delhi arrest Abu Hamza, also known as Syed Zabiuddin - allegedly a

key figure in planning the 2008 Mumbai attacks

2012

Mohammad Ajmal Amir Qasab, the sole surviving gunman of the 2008

attacks in Mumbai, is executed in Pune prison. The Supreme Court upheld his

death sentence in August.

2013

A court sentences four men to death for the gang rape and murder of a

student in Delhi the previous December - a case that led to violent protests across India and new laws

against rape.

2013

The Supreme Court reverses a 2009 Delhi High Court order decriminalising homosexual acts, saying parliament,

not the courts, must resolve the issue.

2014

The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party and its candidate for prime

minister, Narendra Modi, win parliamentary elections by a landslide.