A Brief History of India

Ancient India

One of South Asia's earliest urban civilizations developed in the Indus River Valley more than 4,000 years ago. By about 2600 BCE, cities such as Harappa and Mohenjo-daro had planned streets, drainage systems, craft production, and long-distance trade. Farmers grew crops, merchants exchanged goods with distant regions, and large urban communities developed along important waterways. The civilization declined after about 1900 BCE for reasons that scholars continue to study, including environmental changes and shifts in settlement and trade.

During the following centuries, Indo-Aryan-speaking peoples migrated into parts of northern South Asia and interacted with communities already living there. Religious traditions reflected in the Vedas developed during this period, while villages and kingdoms grew across the region. Iron tools and expanding agriculture supported larger settlements and political states. Hindu religious traditions developed gradually over many centuries, while Buddhism and Jainism also emerged in South Asia during the first millennium BCE.

In 322 BCE, Chandragupta Maurya established the Mauryan Empire, which eventually controlled much of the Indian subcontinent. His grandson Ashoka expanded the empire through warfare, but after a particularly destructive war in Kalinga, he embraced Buddhism and promoted ideas of nonviolence, moral behavior, and religious tolerance. Centuries later, the Gupta Empire ruled much of northern India from about 320 to 550 CE. During the Gupta period, scholars made important advances in mathematics, astronomy, medicine, literature, and the arts.

After the Gupta Empire weakened, South Asia was divided among many regional kingdoms. Powerful states developed in both northern and southern India, and trade continued to connect South Asia with East Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and China. In southern India, the Chola Empire became an important maritime and trading power, especially between the ninth and thirteenth centuries.

Beginning in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, Muslim rulers from Central and Southwest Asia established control over parts of northern India. In 1206, the Delhi Sultanate became an important Muslim-ruled state centered in northern India. Over the following centuries, Muslim and Hindu communities interacted through government, trade, language, architecture, music, and daily life. Conflict occurred at times, but cultural exchange also produced lasting influences throughout the region.

In 1526, Babur, a ruler from Central Asia, defeated the sultan of Delhi and founded the Mughal Empire. Mughal rulers eventually controlled most of the Indian subcontinent and developed a powerful central government. The empire connected South Asia to wider trade networks and supported major achievements in architecture, literature, painting, and other arts.

Emperor Akbar, who ruled from 1556 to 1605, expanded the empire and worked with both Muslim and Hindu officials. He ended a tax on non-Muslims and encouraged discussion among people from different religious traditions. Later rulers followed different policies, and Emperor Aurangzeb expanded Mughal territory while also facing long wars and growing opposition. After his death in 1707, Mughal political power gradually weakened, although Mughal cultural influence continued.

European merchants entered Indian Ocean trade seeking valuable goods, especially spices and textiles. Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama reached India by sea in 1498. During the seventeenth century, Dutch, English, and French companies established trading posts along the coast and competed for access to Indian markets.

The English East India Company began as a trading company, not as the government of India. As Mughal authority weakened during the eighteenth century, however, the company became increasingly involved in regional political conflicts. Its victory at the Battle of Plassey in 1757 helped it gain political and economic control in Bengal. Over the following decades, the company expanded its influence across large parts of the subcontinent.

By the middle of the nineteenth century, many Indians were angry about East India Company rule. Indian soldiers serving in the company's army had military grievances, while rulers, landowners, farmers, and others objected to different British political and economic policies. In 1857, soldiers in northern India rebelled, and the uprising spread to several cities and regions.

The rebellion involved fierce fighting and violence by both rebels and British forces. It did not succeed in ending British control, but it dramatically changed how India was governed. In 1858, the British government ended East India Company rule and placed India directly under the British Crown. This period of direct British colonial government became known as the British Raj.

British rule brought major changes to transportation, government, education, and the economy. Railroads, ports, and telegraph lines connected distant parts of the subcontinent, but many of these systems were also designed to strengthen British administration and move goods for colonial trade. British economic policies affected Indian industries, agriculture, and workers in complicated ways.

Political movements demanding greater Indian participation in government grew during the late nineteenth century. The Indian National Congress was founded in 1885, and the Muslim League was founded in 1906. In 1919, British troops fired on an unarmed crowd at Amritsar, killing hundreds of people and increasing anger toward colonial rule.

Mohandas Gandhi became one of the most influential leaders of the independence movement. He promoted nonviolent resistance and encouraged Indians to refuse cooperation with unjust British policies. Campaigns included boycotts of British goods and the 1930 Salt March, which challenged British control over the production and sale of salt. Gandhi was one important leader among many people and organizations working for independence.

During World War II, demands for independence became stronger. In 1942, the Indian National Congress launched the Quit India movement calling for an end to British rule, and British authorities imprisoned many of its leaders. At the same time, the Muslim League, led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, increasingly argued that Muslims needed a separate state because its leaders feared that Muslims would have too little political power in a Hindu-majority independent India.

Britain agreed to end colonial rule in 1947. British India was divided into two independent countries, India and Pakistan. Pakistan consisted of two regions with Muslim-majority populations, one west and one east of India. East Pakistan later became the independent country of Bangladesh in 1971.

Partition led to one of the largest migrations in modern history. Millions of Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs moved across the new borders, often trying to reach areas where their religious community formed the majority. Violence killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions more. Gandhi opposed the religious violence and was assassinated in January 1948.

India adopted a constitution and became a republic in 1950. Jawaharlal Nehru, who had already served as prime minister since independence, remained the country's first prime minister and promoted parliamentary democracy, economic development, and a secular government.

Independent India continued to face political, economic, and regional challenges. India fought wars with Pakistan and fought a border war with China in 1962. Agricultural changes known as the Green Revolution greatly increased food production beginning in the 1960s, while industrial development and population growth continued to reshape the economy.

Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared a state of Emergency from 1975 to 1977, during which the government restricted civil liberties and arrested political opponents. Political and religious tensions also affected parts of India during the 1980s, and Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two of her Sikh bodyguards in 1984 after the Indian army's assault on Sikh militants inside the Golden Temple complex earlier that year.

In 1991, India began major economic reforms that reduced some government controls and opened more of the economy to private and international investment. Economic growth increased during the following decades. At the same time, India continued to deal with issues involving poverty, inequality, religious and political tensions, and relationships with neighboring countries, many of which have connections to earlier periods in South Asian history.