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Jan 1, 1497
Vasco de Gama sails for India
Vasco de Gama was a Portuguese explorer. When they reached the tip of India, they were astonished by the spices, rare silks, and precious gems. De Gama's voyage to India and back had given Portugal a direct sea route to India. -
Decline of the Mughal Empire
As the Mughal empire rose and fell, western traders buiklt their own power in the region. The MUghal emperors did not feel threatened by the European traders. Though in 1661, Aurangzeb casually handed them the port of bombay, and he did not realize he had given India's next conquerors of their first foothold in a future empire. -
Industrial Revolution In Britain
Wealthy landowners, however, began buying up much of the land that village farmers had once worked. The large landowners dramatically improved farming methods. These innovations amounted to an agricultural revolution. -
Sepoy rebellion
In 1857, gossip spread among the sepoys, that the cartridges of their new Enfield rifles were greased with beef and pork fat. To use the cartridges, soldiers had to bite off the ends. Both Hindus, who consider the cow sacred, and Muslims, who do not eat pork, were outraged by the news. 85 of the 90 sepoys refused to accept the cartridges.The Sepoy Mutiny fueled the racist attitudes of the British. -
British overcome French and take control of India
In 1757, Robert Clive led East India Company troops in a decisive victory over Indian forces allied with the French at the Battle of Plassey. From that time until 1858, the East India Company was the leading power in India. Officially, the British government regulated the East India Company's efforts both in London and in India. -
British Colonized India
The mutiny marked a turning point in Indian history. As a result of the mutiny, in 1858 the British government took direct command of India. -
Creation of the Indian National Congress
This growing nationalism led to the founding of two nationalist groups, the Indian National Congress in 1885 and the Muslim League in 1906. At first, such groups concentrated on specific concerns for Indians. By the early 1900s, however, they were calling for self-government -
Establishment of The British East India Company
Officially, the British government regulated the East India Company's efforts both in London and in India. Until the beginning of the 19th century, the company ruled India with little interference from the British government. The company even had its own army, led by British officers and staffed by sepoys -
Gandhi's Travels stressing nonviolent Resistance
Gandhi's strategy for battling injustice evolved from his deeply religious approach to political activity. His teachings blended ideas from all of the major world religions, including Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity .Gandhi called on Indians to refuse to buy British goods, attend government schools, pay British taxes, or vote in elections. -
Creation of the Muslim League
Members of the league felt that the mainly Hindu Congress Party looked out primarily for Hindu interests. -
Rowlett Acts
Radical nationalists carried out acts of violence to show their hatred of British rule. To curb dissent, in 1919 the British passed the Rowlatt Acts . -
Amritsar Massacre
Rowlatt Acts were laws allowed the government to jail protesters without trial for as long as two years. To protest the Rowlatt Acts, around 10,000 Hindus and Muslims flocked to Amritsar, a major city in the Punjab, in the spring of 1919. The British commander at Amritsar believed they were openly defying the ban. He ordered his troops to fire on the crowd without warning. The shooting in the enclosed courtyard continued for ten minutes. -
Mohandas Gandhi's Leadership of the INC
When the British failed to punish the officers responsible for the Amritsar massacre, Gandhi urged the Indian National Congress to follow a policy of noncooperation with the British government. -
The Salt March
The Salt March was peaceful protest. In 1930, Gandhi organized a demonstration to defy the hated Salt Acts. According to these British laws, Indians could buy salt from no other source but the government. -
Government Of India Act
In 1935, the British Parliament passed the Government of India Act. It provided local self-government and limited democratic elections, but not total independence. -
WWII - Riots Between Hindus And Muslims
When World War II ended, Britain found itself faced with enormous war debts. With India continuing to push for independence, the stage was set for the British to hand over power. However, a key problem emerged: Who should receive the power—Hindus or 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. In August 1946, four days of clashes in Calcutta left more than 5,000 people dead and -
Partition
The division of India into separate Hindu and Muslim nations. The northwest and eastern regions of India, where most Muslims lived, would become the new nation of Pakistan. -
Indian/ Pakistan Independence
The British House of Commons passed an act on July 16, 1947, that granted two nations, India and Pakistan, independence in one month's time. In that short period, more than 500 independent native princes had to decide which nation they would join. -
Gandhi's death
10 million people were on the move in the Indian subcontinent. As people scrambled to relocate, violence among the different religious groups erupted. Muslims killed Sikhs who were moving into India. Hindus and Sikhs killed Muslims who were headed into Pakistan. Gandhi personally went to the Indian capital of Delhi to plead for fair treatment of Muslim refugees. While there, he himself became a victim of the nation's violence. A Hindu who thought Gandhi too protective of muslims shot him.