Indian History

Emergence of Indus Valley (or Harappan) Civilisation

3500 BCE

The Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC) was a Bronze Age civilisation in the northwestern regions of South Asia. Along with ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia it was one of three early civilisations of the region comprising North Africa, West Asia and South Asia, and of the three, the most widespread, its sites spanning an area stretching from northeast Afghanistan, through much of Pakistan, and into western and northwestern India.

Arrival of Aryan People From Central Asia

1800 BCE

Indo-Aryan migration models discuss scenarios around the theory of an origin from outside the Indian subcontinent of Indo-Aryan peoples, an ascribed ethnolinguistic group that spoke Indo-Aryan languages, the predominant languages of today's North India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

Indus Valley Civilisation Has Ended

1700 BCE

The Indus Valley civilization began to decline between 1900 and 1800 BCE. Most of the cities disappeared or were abandoned. Archaeologists do not know why this happened. The Indus writing system may hold some clues, but no one today can understand it. Natural causes such as floods, droughts, or disease might have played a part. Or perhaps the people themselves overused the land.

Birth of Siddhartha Gautama, Founder of Buddism

563 BCE

Siddhārtha Gautama or Siddhattha Gotama in Pali, also called the Gautama Buddha, the Shakyamuni Buddha, or simply the Buddha, after the title of Buddha, was a monk, mendicant, sage, philosopher, teacher and religious leader on whose teachings Buddhism was founded.

Invasion of Indus Valley by Persians

500 BCE

The Achaemenid conquest of the Indus Valley refers to the Achaemenid military conquest and occupation of the territories of the North-western regions of the Indian subcontinent, from the 6th to 4th centuries BC. The conquest of the areas as far as the Indus river is often dated to the time of Cyrus the Great, in the period between 550-539 BCE.

Invasion by Alexander The Great

327 BCE

The Indian campaign of Alexander the Great began in 327 BC. After conquering the Achaemenid Empire of Persia, the Macedonian king (and now the great king of the Persian Empire), Alexander, launched a campaign into the Indian subcontinent in present-day Pakistan, part of which formed the easternmost territories of the Achaemenid Empire following the Achaemenid conquest of the Indus Valley (6th century BC).

Chandragupta Maurya Founds the Mauryan Empire

321 BCE

The Maurya Empire was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power based in Magadha and founded by Chandragupta Maurya which dominated the Indian subcontinent between 321 and 187 BCE. The empire was the largest political entity to have existed in the Indian subcontinent, extending over 5 million square kilometres (1.9 million square miles) at its zenith under Ashoka.

Ashoka, Grandson of Chandragupta Becomes Emperor of Mauryan Empire

269 BCE

Bindusara died in 272 BCE, and was succeeded by his son, Ashoka the Great (304-232 BCE). As a young prince, Ashoka (r. 272-232 BCE) was a brilliant commander who crushed revolts in Ujjain and Taxila. As monarch, he was ambitious and aggressive, reasserting the Empire’s superiority in southern and western India.

End of Mauryan Empire

185 BCE

The Maurya Empire was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power based in Magadha and founded by Chandragupta Maurya which dominated the Indian subcontinent between 322 and 187 BCE.

Beginning of Gupta Empire

320

Arts and Sciences flourished, The Gupta Empire was an ancient Indian empire existing from the mid-to-late 3rd century CE to 543 CE. At its zenith, from approximately 319 to 543 CE, it covered much of the Indian subcontinent.[3] This period is considered as the Golden Age of India by some historians.

Birth of Aryabhata

470

Aryabhata or Aryabhata was the first of the major mathematician-astronomers from the classical age of Indian mathematics and Indian astronomy.