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Nov 4, 1497
Vasco De Gama Sails For India
Vasco De Gama began exploring the African coast. He was amazing by the goods and returned to Portugal and his voyage turned out it had given Portugal a direct sea route to India. -
Decline of the Mughal Empire
By the end of Aurangzeb's reign, he had drained the empier of its resources. Most of his subjects felt little or no loyalty to him. So therefore, the empire fell leading power in India. -
Industrial Revolution in Britain
The Revolution greatly increased output of machine-made goods. Before machines were made, people had to do these jobs by hand. -
Establishment of the British East India Company
The British East India Company began its work by setting up trading posts at places such as Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta. It stayed through helping India with becoming a support to be an independent country. -
British Overcome French and Take Control of India
Robert Clive led East India Company troops in an absolute victory over Indian forces with the French at the Battle of Plassey. From that time tuntil 1858, East India Company was leading power in India. -
British Colonized India
Out of fear of most revolts, the British took direct control of Indfia as part of its empire. -
Sepoy Rebellion
Sepoys thought that the cartridges for the new rifles were greased with beef/pork fat. Cows were sacred to the Hindus and pigs were abhorent to Muslims. The result of this was a widespread rebellion. -
Creation of the Indian National Congress
The growinbg nationalism in India led to the founding of the Indian National Congress. These groups at first were concentrated on specific concerns for Indians, By the end of the 1900's, however, they were calling for self government, -
Creation of the Muslim League
The Muslim League was an organization in India to protest Muslim interests. Members of the league felt that the mainly Hindu Congress Party looked out primarily for the Hindu interests. Muhammad Ali Jinnah stated, "The only thing the Muslim has in common with the Hindu is his slavery to the British." -
Rowlett Acts
These were laws passed that allowed the British government in India to jail anti-British protestors without trial for as long as two years. -
Amritsar Massacre
To protest the Rowlett Acts, around 10,000 Hindus and Muslims flocked to Amritsar. The demonstrfation especially of the alliance of Hindus and Muslims alarmed the British. The commander ordered troops to fire on the crowd without warning. 400 Indian died and the massacre sparked an explosion across India. Indians demanded independence. -
Mohandas Gandhi's Leadership of the INC
When the British failed to punish the officers responsible for the Amristar massacre, Gandhi urged the INC to follow a policy of the noncooperation. With the British government, Gandhi launched his campaign of civil disobedience to weaken the British government's authority and economic power over India. -
Gandi's Travels Stressing Nonviolent Resistance
Gandhi boycotted Indians buying British goods, attending government schools, paying British taxes, or voting in elections. Gandhi also led strikes and demonstrations against nonviolence, but they often led to riots. -
The Salt March
Gandhi organized a demonstration to defy the hated Salt Acts. Indians could only buy salt from the government and had to pay sales tax on it. Gandhi and his followers walked 240 miles on the seacoast and began to make their own salt by collecting seawater and letting it evaporate. -
Government of India Act
From the results of all of Gandhi's actions he gained greater political power from the Indian people. British Parliament passed the government of Indian Acts. It provided local self government and limited democratic elections but not total independence. -
WWII- Riots Between Hindus and Muslims
Muslims resisted attempts to include them in an Indian government dominated by Hindus. Rioting between the two groups broke out in several Indian cities. Four days of Calcutta left more than 5,000 people dead and more than 15,000 hurt. -
Indian/Pakistan Independence
British House of Commons passed an act that granted India and Pakistan independence in one month's time. In that short period, the whole Civil Service had to be divided. Most difficult of all, millions of Indian citizens, whatever religion, had to decide where to go. -
Partition
This was the term given to the division of India into seperate Hindu and Muslim nations. -
Gandhi's Death
A Hindu extremist who thought Gandhi was too protective of Muslims shot and killed him.
