History Of India

The history of India starts with the Indus Valley Civilization. The excavations at Mohenjadaro and Harappa states the existence of civilized people lived in the northwestern part of the India from 3300 BC to 1300 BC. Aryans are the first invaders who invaded India from Central Asia. They settled down in Punjab and the dark skinned native people of India Dravidians had frequent struggles with them. Cyrus and Darius, the kings of Persia invaded India in 500 BC and Alexander came into India in 327 BC and defeated an Indian King.

 

The Maurya Empire was established in 322 BC and extended till 185 BC. Chandragupta Maurya ruled India from Magadha and then followed the Gupta period. It was established in 320 AD and lasted till 480 AD. The excavation of Ajanta and Ellora caves were done during this time. Chandragupta Vikramaditya united small kingdoms and brought major portion of India under his control. However the invasion of Huns destroyed Gupta Empire. In the south, there were many small kingdoms like Cheras, Cholas, Pandiyas, Pallavas, Hoysala, Yadhava, Rashtrakuta, Chalukya, Kalachuri and Vijayanagar kingdom.

 

The Muslim invasions started in the 12th century. Ghazni Mohamed and Ghori Muhammed of Turkey invaded India. Many dynasties like the Slave Dynasty, Khilji Dynasty, Saiyed Dynasty, Tughlaq Dynasty, Lodhi Dynasty and Bahmani Dynasty ruled over India for a period of 300 years. Babur from Uzbekistan entered India through Khyber Pass and defeated Ibrahim Lodi in the battle of Panipat putting an end to Lodi Dynasty and established Mughal Empire in India. The Mughal emperor Shah Jahan built the wonderful edifice Taj Mahal. Akbar, Jahangir, Aurangazeb and Humayun are the Mughal kings. Many buildings were built during this time in and around Agra and Delhi. The last Mughal ruler was Bahadhur Shah.

 

The European invasion started in 1498 with the arrival of Portuguese. The Dutch East India Company came to India in 1602 and established their trade centers in Cochin, Nagapatinam and Agra. The British East India Company came into India in 1613 and started its trading in Gujarat. French also established trade connections in 1644. However the French supremacy was ended with the three Carnatic wars from 1746 to 1763.

 

The political sovereignty of British was established in 1757 by Robert Clive when he defeated the Nawab of Bengal Siraj Ud Daulah in the Battle of Plassey. The Indian people agitated against the British rule for the first time in 1857 and this was called as the first Indian war of independence. In 1858 India went into the control of the British Government.

 

After about 300 years of British rule, India got its independence on 15th August 1947 through the strenuous efforts of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and thousands of freedom fighters. After the independence of India, Pakistan was created from the Northwest part of India. India became a republic on 26th January 1950. Nehru became the first prime minister of the country.

 

Some of the important events in the history of India after independence are assassination of Mahatma Gandhi on 30th January 1948, Indo-Pakistan War of 1965, the second Indo-Pak War in 1971, launching of India’s first satellite in 1975, Pokhran nuclear explosion in 1974, assassination of Indira Gandhi in 1884 and her son Rajiv Gandhi in 1991 and Kargil War. In spite of various problems India is standing as a queen among other nations striving to become one of the super powers of the world.

Article Posted By : SumazlalView All Articles

Suhaina Mazhar is a freelance content writer and blogger with five years experience in content writing. http://sumazla.blogspot.com is her blog.

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Keywords :
history of india , indian history , colonization of india , prehistoric period of india

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