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Jan 1, 1499
Vasco de Gama saills for India
Vasu De Gama was a Portuguese explorer who began to explore the East African coast. Upon reaching the port of Calicut, Gama was impressed on seeing so many spices, silk, and gems. The sailors put as many spices such as pepper as they could in their ships, and returned to Portugal in 1499. Gama's extraordinary voyage discovered a direct sea route to India. -
British Overcome French and Take Control of India
The East India Company grew over the years. The company ruled India without the British government interfering. The company had its own army, or sepoys, who were Indian troops that worked for the British. Soon, since India was a supplier of raw materials, the British soon ruled the East India Company. -
Decline of the Mughal Empire
The Mughal Empire fell after Aurangzeb died. He was the third son of Shah Jahan. This was because when he was at war, many people died of famine. When the English came to build their power secretly in India, Aurangzeb casually handed them the port of Bombay. -
Industrial Revolution in Britain
This was the time period of machine-made goods that began in England. When they improved farming methods, this led to agriculture revolution. The Industrial Revolution spread from England to North America. -
Establishment of the British East India Company
After the Mughal Empire fell, Robert Clive led British East India Company troops in a massive victory over Indian Forces in the Battle of Plassey. They set up trading posts at Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta, and became the leading power of India. -
Sepoy Rebellion
Gossip was spreading among the Sepoys that the cartridges of their new Enfield rifles were greased with beef and pork fat. This made them mad because Hindus considered the cows sacred, and Muslims couldn't eat pork. The cause is that since they refused to accept the cartridges, the British jailed them. As a result, the next day the Sepoys rebelled. They captured Delhi, and caused fierce fighting. -
British Colonized India
British took direct command over India in 1858. The word Raj referred to the British rule over India from 1757 to 1947. The British respected all the treaties that the East India Company had made with them. The Indian states that were still free remained independant. -
Mohandas Gandhi's Leadership of the INC
Gandhi became the leader of the INC in 1869 and was very religious. His strategy for staying away from injustice evolved from his religious approach. He respected all religions and borrowed his ideas from them too: Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity. He attracted many followers. -
Creation of the Indian National Congress (INC)
When Indians were demanding for modernization and a better government, they started to create their own nationalist groups. One of them was the Indian National Congress. This worked to get independance from the British. The Indians enlisted in the British army for World War 1, and the British promised self-government for the Indians. -
Creation of the Muslim League
This organization was made to protect Muslim's rights. The leader was Muhammad Ali Jinnah, and he wanted all Muslims to resign from the Congress party. He stated that Muslims will never accept Indian independance. The only thing Muslims and Hindus had in common was their slavery to the British. -
Amritsar Massacre
Many Hindus and Musliims went to Amritsar, Punjab, and arrived at a huge festival. They fasted, prayed, and listened to speeches. The British had banned public meetings, and when they saw Hindus and Muslims together, they became angry. A British commander ordered his troops to fire the crowd. Many Indians died and got wounded. This was called the Amritsar Massacre and the result is that they caused Indians anger and their desire of wanting independance and revenge. -
Rowlett Acts
When the British forgot to fulfill their promise of allowing self government for the Indians on purpose, the Indians became outraged. They came back home from war, and this was what they got! The Indians then carried out acts of violence to show their hatred. In return, the British passed out Rowlett Acts, that jailed protesters withour trial for about 2 years. -
Gandhi's Travels Stressing Nonviolent Resistance
In 1920, the Congress Party endorsed civil disobedience, which was refusal to obey an unfair law, and obeying nonviolence to reach independance. Gandhi did this to weaken the British authority and power over India. Gandhi called on Indians to refuse buying British goods, attend government schools, pay British takes, and voting in elections. -
The Salt March
To defy the Salt Acts, Gandhi and his people walked 240 miles to the seacoast and made their own salt. This peaceful protest was called the Salt March. After this, many people went to shutdown the British place of processing salt. British officers attacked the people, but still they went on with their peaceful protest in pain. The goal was to end the tax on salt, and as a result, many Indians along with Gandhi got arrested. -
Government of India Act
The British Parliament passed the Government of India Act to stop the protests against salt tax. This allowed local self government and limited elections, but not total independance yet. This also brought tension between Muslims and Hindus, because neither was sure who would rule India in the future. -
WW2-Riots between Hindus and Muslims
There was a problem as to who would recieve the power: Hindus or Muslims? Riots between the 2 groups broke out in many Indian cities. 4 days of fighting in Calcutta left more than 20,000 people dead and injured. -
Partition
British officials knew there was only one way to end this: partition. Partition was the division of India into separate Hindu and Muslim nations. The northwest and eastern regions of India became the new nation of.....PAKISTAN. -
Indian/Pakistan Independance
The British passed an act that granted India and Pakistan independance in one month's time. More than 500 independant native princes had to decide which nation they would join. Lastly, millions of Indian citizens (Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs) had to decide where to go. As people moved, violence erupted among the different religious groups. Many people died, and many lost their loved ones. -
Gandhi's Death
Gandhi felt bad to see so many people dead. He personally went to Delhi to plead for fair treatment of Muslim refugees. While being there, a Hindu who thought Gandhi was being too protective of Muslims shot and killed him in public.
