Timeline of Historical Events

1987–1991 Indian intervention in Sri Lanka 1989 Ninth Lok Sabha election; Congress (I) wins plurality, but National Front forms government; beginning of militants’ campaign in Kashmir 1990–1992 Militants’ campaign in Assam 1991 Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi; tenth Lok Sabha election; Congress (I) wins plurality; P.V. Narasimha Rao becomes prime minister; beginning of economic liberalization 1992 Destruction of Babri Masjid 1996 Eleventh Lok Sabha election; BJP wins plurality, but United Front forms government 1998 Twelfth Lok Sabha election; BJP wins plurality; Atal Bihari Vajpayee becomes prime minister; successful tests of nuclear weapons 1999 Expulsion of infiltrators in Kashmir; thirteenth Lok Sabha election; BJP wins plurality 2001 Census confirms that India’s population exceeds 1 billion

Timeline of Historical Events

BCE
c. 7000	First permanent village settlements in Balochistan
c. 4300	First use of copper
c. 3200	First village settlements in Indus and Sarasvati valleys
c. 2600–2500	First use of bronze
c. 2500–2000	Harappan urban civilization
c. 2000–1600	Collapse of Harappan urban civilization
c. 2000–1000	Spread of Aryan ways eastwards to Ganges (including Brahminical religion, Vedic language); composition of Rig Veda
c. 1300	Disappearance of the Sarasvati
c. 1000	First use of iron
c. 1000–550	Spread of Aryan world across North India; formation of oligarchies and kingdoms; composition of Brahmanas c. 700–500 First wave of religious speculation; composition of Aranyakas and Upanishads c. 550 Emergence of Gangetic urban civilization c. 550–350 Second wave of religious speculation; emergence of Buddhism and Jainism; rise of Magadha c. 325–185 Mauryan dynasty (Magadha) c. 272–235 Reign of Ashoka Maurya 3rd century BCE– 3rd century CE Foreign kings in Northwest (including Kanishka) 1st century BCE– 3rd century CE Satavahana or Andhra dynasty (Deccan) CE 1st–3rd centuries Probable composition of Shangam literature 1st millennium Completion of Mahabharata and Ramayana; consolidation of Hinduism c. 320–550 Gupta dynasty (North India) c. 375–415 Reign of Chandra Gupta II 6th–11th centuries Pallava dynasty (Tamil country) 6th century–1310 Pandya dynasty (Tamil country) 606–647 Reign of Harshavardhana (North India) 636 or 644 Muslim Arab attack on pirates near Bombay 644 Arab conquest of Balochistan 711–713 Arab conquest of Sindh 743–974 Rashtrakuta dynasty (Deccan) c. 750–1161 Pala dynasty (Bengal) 9th century–1019 Gurjara-Pratihara dynasty (North India) 9th century–1310 Chola dynasty (Tamil country) 962–1186 Ghaznawid dynasty (Afghanistan) 997–1030 Reign of Mahmud the Ghaznawid; raids into India 11th century– 1194 Gaharwar dynasty (North India)

c. 1097–1223 Sena dynasty (Bengal) 12th century– 1215/16 Ghauri dynasty (Afghanistan) 1192–1206 Ghauri conquest of North India 1206–1526 Sultanate of Delhi 1223–1224 First Mongol invasion of South Asia 1296–1324 Ala ud-Din Khalji and Ghiyas ud-Din Tughluq of Delhi subjugate most of India 1330s–1340s Sultanate of Delhi loses Bengal and south India (Vijayanagara, Bahmani sultanate) 1398 Sack of Delhi by Temür; collapse of sultanate of Delhi 1451–1526 Reunification of North India by Lodi sultans of Delhi 1469–1539 Lifetime of Nanak 1526–1857 Mughal dynasty 1565 Defeat and collapse of Vijayanagara 1556–1605 Reign of Akbar 1600 Foundation of English East India Company 1628–1658 Reign of Shah Jahan; conquest of Ahmadnagar; construction of Taj Mahal and Shahjahanabad (Old Delhi) 1658–1707 Reign of Aurangzeb; war with Marathas; conquest of South India 1699 Foundation of Khalsa 1719–1748 Reign of Muhammad Shah; disintegration of Mughal empire; Marathas become dominant power in South Asia 1739 Sack of Delhi by Nadir Shah 1750s Rise of Mysore 1757 Siraj ud-Daula of Bengal defeated by East India Company at Battle of Plassey 1761 1947 Partition and independence; Jawaharlal Nehru prime minister 1947–1948 First Indo-Pakistani war 1948–1949 Merger of kingdoms of “Indian India” 1948 Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi 1950 Constitution in effect; beginning of creation of Nehruvian economy 1952 First Lok Sabha election; Congress wins majority 1957 Second Lok Sabha election; Congress wins majority 1962 Third Lok Sabha election; Congress wins majority; war with China 1964 Death of Jawaharlal Nehru; Lal Bahadur Shastri becomes prime minister 1965 Second Indo-Pakistani war; beginning of Green Revolution 1966 Death of Lal Bahadur Shastri; Indira Gandhi becomes prime minister 1967 Fourth Lok Sabha election; Congress wins majority 1969 Split of Indian National Congress 1971 Fifth Lok Sabha election; Congress (R) wins majority; third Indo-Pakistani war 1974 Successful tests of nuclear explosives 1975–1977 The Emergency 1977 Sixth Lok Sabha election; Janata Party wins majority 1980 Seventh Lok Sabha election; Congress (I) wins majority; Indira Gandhi returns as prime minister 1983–1993 Militants’ campaign in Punjab 1984 Army attacks Golden Temple complex; assassination of Indira Gandhi; Rajiv Gandhi becomes prime minister; eighth Lok Sabha election; Congress (I) wins majority Marathas defeated by Afghans at Battle of Panipat 1765 East India Company appointed diwan of Bengal and Bihar 1798–1846 East India Company establishes supremacy over almost all of India 1799–1839 Ranjit Singh ruler of Sikh empire 1856 First steam-powered cotton mill in India 1857 Great revolt against British rule 1858 Transfer of control from East India Company to British Crown 1885 Foundation of Indian National Congress 1905 Partition of Bengal 1906 Foundation of All-India Muslim League 1909–1910 Morley-Minto Reforms 1912 Capital moved from Calcutta to New Delhi 1914–1918 World War I 1916 Lucknow Pact 1919 Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms; Rowlatt Acts; Amritsar Massacre; beginning of Khilafat movement 1920 Mahatma Gandhi enters politics; starts noncooperation satyagraha; becomes leader of Indian National Congress 1922 End of noncooperation satyagraha 1927–1928 Simon Commission 1929–1931 Collapse of Indian agricultural prices 1930–1933 Salt Tax satyagraha 1930–1932 Round Table Conferences 1935 Government of India Act passed 1937 First elections under the 1935 Act 1939–1945 World War II 1940 Muslim League endorses creation of Muslim states 1942–1943 Quit India rebellion