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Jan 1, 1497
Vasco De Gama's Voyage to India
In 1497, Vasco De Gama left on a long voyage; From Portugal, around the continent of Africa and finally ending in Asia, in order to get their exotic spices. When he arrived in Calcut in 1948, he was blown away by the gems, spices and silk that were being sold their. When he arrived back home to Portagul in 1499, he made sure to bring home some souvineres,,,Souvineres that were together woth 60 times than the journey itself! -
The Beginning of The British East India Company
In the1600's, The British East India Company took over India after the fall of the Mughal empire, They were in charge of India and its finances. They had an army with not only British soldiers, but with sepoys (or Indian soldiers). -
British Industrial Revoloution
This was a very important time in England. Because a lot of the vacant land (some of whirch used to be farms) was bought out to make more bigger farms. Bigger farms required more care. so things like rotating the growth of crops became very popular. -
The Mugal Empire Falls
The Mughal empire was once a very sucessful empire, governing many parts of India. After the wasteful ruler, Aurangzeb, people wern't very loyal to the Mughal enmpire. As a result, little peices of their empire were breaking into states with their own individual rulers. Soon, there was nothing left of the Mughal empire. -
The British East India Company Defeats France and India.
In 1757, the French teamed up with the Indians and fought the British East India Company over the control of India, in what is now referred to as the Battle of Plassey. The British East India Company won the battle and gained control over India, which they kept for 101 years. -
"Sepoy Rebellion"
Most of the sepoys were Hindu and Musilum. In those religions, cows and pigs were sacred or important. So when there was talk that the guns that the British gave them were greased with cow and pig fat, some of the sepoys refused to fight out of rage. When the time came to get cartridges, 85 out of 90 sepoys refused to take them. On May 10th 1857, the sepoys began to march throught India, gathering more sepoys who were outraged by this. This sparked many battles between the British and the sepoys -
British Take Over India
The British took over parts India in 1858, following the rebellion. This was known as the Raj. -
Fornation of the Indian National Congress
The Indian people were sick and tired of being concidered second class citizens compared to the British. Nationalisim began to grow as well throughout India. Both of theese components lead to the beginning of the Indian National Congress. This group discussed anitally the rights of indian people but then evolved into talking about getting rid of the Britsh rule. -
The Beginning of of the Musilum Leauge
The Musilum Leauge was very similar to the Indian National Congress, except it focused mostly on rights for specifically muslums. They believed that because there were so many Hindus in congress, that they sometimes overlooked the Muslims, so the Muslim Leauge was there to make sure that the Musllims intrests were being protected -
The Passing of the Rowlatt Acts
The Rowlatt Acts, passed in 1919 were a set of laws, stating that protest was very much frowned upon, and that anyone who did protest would risk going to jail for up to two years with no trial. the people of India were outraged by this. -
"Amritsar Massacre"
in 1919, the British took a step to prevent protesting by passing the Rowlatt Act, an unfair act that states that if one protests,,The people of India very much disliked this rule. In Punjab there tens of thousands of Hindus and Muslims in the spring of 1919. They had a festival full of fasting, praying and listening to speeches. It was all very peaceful until the British army began shooting people who were "openly defying the ban". 400 Indians were killed and 1,200 were hurt -
Mohanda Ghandi Leads the Indian National Congress
Ganndi was a very unique Ileader of the Indain National Congress. He was among the first to really promote nonviolence or "Civil Disobeidence" in India, Peace was very much needed in India, especally following the Amritsar Massacre. His methods of getting people to listen were through protests, strikes, and by boldly getting peoples attention for positive reasons (for example, the salt march). Ghandi was a very inspirational person not only in India, but in the world as a whole -
Ghandi Travels to Promote Non-Violence
Ghandi traveled all over the place to promote non-violence. he went all over India. One of his most famous travels was a 240 mile walk known as the Salt March. -
"The Salt March"
The Salt March was a very important protest,A 240 mile walk planned by Ghandi. In order to escape the salt tax put in place by the British goverment. Ghandi lead a large group of people to the coast of India, Where they gathered lots of salt water and set it out in the sun. After the water evaporated, it left only salt, meaning salt with no taxes being paid to get it. -
The Passing of the Goverment of India Act
With the passing of the Goverment of India Act, Ghandi and his followers got their first taste of payoff to all their hard work. The act, Passed in 1935, basically stated that India was allowed to have small "democratic elections" and small individual self goverments. -
BRITAN IS FINALLY OUT! YAY! So Now Whos In Charge? The Musliums or the Hindus?
This is exactly what the Indian People were thinking after WWII ended and Britan had given them back their coutry, There were many fights regarding this issue. One in perticular in Calcutta. it was a very violent riot between the Muslims and the Hindus in August of 1946 over the course of four days. 5,000 people died and 15,00 were hurt. They soon decided that the partinon was the answer to this issue. -
"Partition"
India was divided into many peices based on religions. This was referred to as the Partition. The idea wasoriginally from the Muslims, but the British decided to use it. Basically, the East Punjab region would be given to the Sikhs, the majority of modern-day India went to the Hindus, Thimpu and Sri Lanka went to the Buddhists, and Modern day Pakistan went to the Musliums. -
Ghandi's Death
While on the Indian sub continnant, Ghandi was shot and killed on January 30th, 1948. The gunman was a Hindu extremeist who believed that Ghandi did too much to help the Musilms. Although Ghandi died, his legendary tecachings of peace and nonviolence live on.
