Ganhdi Timeline

  • Gandhi Was Born

    On October 2, 1869, Mahatma Gandhi was born!
  • Gandhi gets married

    At the age of 14, Gandhi marries 13 year-old Kasturbai Makhanji. Following the customs of their region, the children are part of an arranged marriage. They have four children together.
  • Gandhi goes to London to enter law school

    Gandhi begins studies at University College London. He studies Indian law and also joins the Vegetarian Society while he was there. Gandhi avoids eating meat or drinking alcohol throughout his life.
  • Gandhi returns to India to start his career as a lawyer

    After completing his studies, Gandhi returns to India to start a law practice in Bombay. However, too shy to speak up in court, Gandhi's attempts to be a lawyer fail and he accepts various other jobs in legal firms.
  • Gandhi goes to South Africa to work for a Muslim Indian law firm

    Gandhi agrees to travel to South Africa to help a Muslim Indian law firm with a lawsuit. He is shocked by the racial discrimination he finds there when he learns he is not allowed to travel in the first class section of the train. The trip becomes a major turning point for him as he devotes his life to the pursuit of equality and justice.
  • Gandhi publishes "The Green Pamphlet."

    Gandhi writes a pamphlet about the discrimination Indians face in South Africa. Great Britain, which controls South Africa, believes that "The Green Pamphlet" is an anti-government document and begins to view Gandhi as a troublemaker.
  • Gandhi is refused entry into South Africa.

    Realizing that he is going to be staying in South Africa, Gandhi returns to Bombay to get his wife and children so he can bring them to South Africa. When their ship arrives at Port Natal in South Africa, a mob of angry white men, angry that he is stirring up trouble among the Indians, refuse to let Gandhi's family into the country. A local police superintendent helps Gandhi and his family leave the ship safely and he refuses to press charges on the mob.
  • Gandhi asks the Indian community of South African to refuse to comply with the Transvaal Asiatic Registration Act.

    When the Transvaal government announces that all Indians must register and produce identification on demand or risk deportation, Gandhi asks Indians to peacefully resist. The Indians agree, setting off seven years of protest and struggle between the Indians and government.
  • Gandhi is arrested for the first time.

    Among the first to see the court magistrate for his refusal to register with the government in South Africa, Gandhi is arrested and spends all of his time in prison reading. When he is arrested later that year, he reads "Civil Disobedience" by Henry David Thoreau and is even more committed to peaceful resistance.
  • Gandhi is given the title Mahatma.

    Rabindranath Tagore, and Indian poet and Nobel Laureate, refers to Gandhi for the first time as Mahatma. The title means "Great Soul" and is given by Hindus to only the holiest men. Gandhi is not fond of it because he believes all souls are equal.
  • Gandhi died :(

    On January 30, 1948, Mahatma Gandhi was assasined by another fellow Hindu. :(