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East India Company Rule
The East India Company originally chartered as the Governor and Company of Merchants of London trading into the East Indies. In 1707 it became a British joint-stock company formed to trade with the East Indies but which ended up trading with the Indian subcontinent. The East India Company traded mainly in cotton, silk, indigo dye, and sal. -
The Sepoy Rebellion
One of the most well-known uprisings during the British colonization of India was a mutiny of the native troops known as sepoys. It began on May 10, 1857 the Sepoy rebellion was a complete surprise to the British, the campaign to suppress the revolt lasted until April 1859. -
Mohandas Gandhi (Principles and what he fought for)
Employing non-violent civil disobedience, Gandhi led India to independence and inspired movements for non-violence, civil rights and freedom across the world. Gandhi trained in law in London. Gandhi became famous by fighting for the civil rights of Muslim and Hindu Indians in South Africa, using non-violent civil disobedience. He set about organizing peasants to protest excessive land-taxes. -
Formation of the Indian National Congress
The Indian National is one of the two major political parties in India. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratically-operating political parties in the world. Founded in 1885 by members of the occultist movement and became a pivotal participant in the Indian Independence Movement, with over 15 million members and over 70 million participants. -
Formation of the Muslim League
The All-India Muslim League was a political party which advocated the creation of a separate Muslim-majority nation, Pakistan. Formed originally to promote a modern education for Muslims. The goal was to define and advance Muslim agendas, protect Muslim rights in India, and present a unified Muslim voice to the British which ruled India until 1947. -
Salt March
In 1930 in order to help free India from British control, Mahatma Gandhi proposed a non-violent march protesting the British Salt Tax, continuing Gandhi's pleas for civil disobedience. The Salt Tax essentially made it illegal to sell or produce salt, allowing a complete British monopoly. -
Quit India campaign
The Quit India Movement was a civil disobedience movement launched in India in August 1942 in response to Mohandas Gandhi's call for independence. The All-India Congress Committee proclaimed a mass protest demanding what Gandhi called an orderly British withdrawal from India. -
Hindu-Muslim Conflict
Political freedoms for the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League, following the 1947 partition and independence, allowed for Hindu nationalism to fight back against Islam. -
Indian Independence Act
The Indian Independence Act 1947 was as an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that partitioned British India into the two new independent dominions of India and Pakistan. The Act received the royal assent on 18 July 1947, and Pakistan came into being on August 14, and India on August 15, as two new countries. -
Gandhi Assassinated
Gandhi was assassinated on 30 January 1948, shot at point-blank range by Nathuram Godse. Prior to his death, there had been five unsuccessful attempts to kill Gandhi, the first occurring in 1934. Gandhi was outside on the steps of a building where a prayer meeting was going to take place. He was surrounded by his family and some followers when three gunshots killed him.