India

By 2lo38
  • 4000 BCE

    Irrigation

    Farmers begin to settle on the Indus floodplain and to construct dams and canals for irrigation
  • 4000 BCE

    Copper

    Copper is in use in the Indus region
  • 3500 BCE

    Potter's Wheel

    The potter's wheel is introduced to the Indus region
  • 2500 BCE

    Cities

    In India's Indus Valley cities like Harappa attract a population of up to 40,000 people living in houses with bathrooms and toilets connected to a common drainage system
  • 2300 BCE

    Height of Indus Civilization

    The Indus civilization is at its height and continues to flourish for the next 400 years
  • 2000 BCE

    Bronze

    First evidence of bronze in the Indus region
  • 1800 BCE

    Aryans

    Aryans arrive in northwestern India, bringing with them chariots, cattle, and the Sanskrit language
  • 1750 BCE

    Indus Valley cities abandoned

    For reasons that remain unexplained the Indus Valley cities are abandoned by their inhabitants
  • 1300 BCE

    Ironworking

    Evidence of ironworking appears in the valley of the Ganges
  • 1000 BCE

    Brahmanic Caste System

    The Brahmanic caste system becomes well established in India
  • 563 BCE

    Birth of Siddhartha

    Birth of Siddhartha Gautama in India
  • 524 BCE

    Buddhism

    Siddhartha has the vision on which the Buddhist religion will be founded
  • 483 BCE

    Death of the Buddha

    With the death of the Buddha or Enlightened One, the First Great Council of his followers is held to agree on the main tenets of his teaching
  • 321 BCE

    Chandragupta Maurya

    From a power base in northwestern India, Chandragupta Maurya seizes control of the kingdom of Magadha and founds the Mauryan Empire
  • 311 BCE

    Maurya Empire Expands

    Chandragupta Maurya extends his kingdom as for as the Indus Valley, where he encounters resistance for the successors of Alexander the Great.
  • 305 BCE

    Afghanistan and Pakistan

    Chandragupta signs a peace treaty with Seleucus of the Seleucid Empire; by its terms the Mauryans receive much of today's Afghanistan and Pakistan in return for their alliance and a corps of 500 war elephants
  • 269 BCE

    Height of Mauryan Empire

    The Mauryan Empire reaches its height with the ascension of Ashoka: In his 37-year reign he will extend his power over all but the far south of the Indian subcontinent
  • 259 BCE

    Buddhism

    Indian Emperor Ashoka becomes an adherent to Buddhism. His emissaries carry the creed not only across India but beyond, to Sri Lanka and into Southeast Asia
  • 232 BCE

    Ashoka's Death

    Ashoka's death marks the start of the Mauryan Empire's decline
  • 185 BCE

    Shunga Dynasty

    Buddhism in India suffers a major setback when Pushyamitra seizes power from Ashoka's Mauryan successors: Under the new Shunga Dynasty the Brahmin elite of Hinduism returns to power
  • 320

    Gupta Empire

    Chandragupta I, the founder of the Gupta Empire, begins to expand his kingdom from a small heartland on the southern banks of the Ganges River
  • 380

    Height of the Gupta Empire

    The Gupta Empire reaches its peak under Chandragupta II, almost rivaling the Mauryan Empire in size
  • 520

    Earth Rotates

    Aryabhata, a Hindu astronomer and mathematician correctly states that the Earth rotates on its axis
  • 550

    Chess

    The game of chess originates in the Indus Valley
  • 560

    The Huns

    The Huns invade Gupta lands in India, bringing the empire to an end
  • 600

    Decimals and Zero

    Indian mathematicians have developed a decimal system and the concept of zero by this date
  • 788

    Birth of Sankaracharya

    Birth of Sankaracharya, the great Hindu philosopher and guru; he will reinterpret the Vedas and found four monastic centers of learning in India that survive today
  • 1050

    Kandarya Mahadeva Temple

    Dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva, the magnificent Kandarya Mahadeva Temple is completed in north-central India. More than 900 carvings of gods, dancing girls, and demons decorate its exterior
  • 1100

    Jagannath Temple

    Hindu Temple building is at its height in India; the Jagannath Temple at Puri in Orissa is begun about this time
  • 1203

    Ghurid Empire

    Sultan Muhammad Ghuri completes the Buddhist subjugation of northern India
  • 1555

    Mughal Empire

    Akbar becomes emperor and establishes the true greatness of the Mughal Empire. He extends Mughal rule across the whole of northern India. Akbar gives the Mughal Empire stability and a strong system of government by pursuing tolerant policies toward his Hindu subjects

  • Taj Mahal

    Following the death of his wife Mumtaz Mahal, Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan orders the construction of her tomb, the Taj Mahal at Agra, which will take 22 years to complete

  • Aurangzeb

    Aurangzeb deposes and imprisons his father, Emperor Shah Jahan, becoming the last of the great Mughal emperors. He will seek to enforce strict Suni orthodoxy, repressing Sikhism and Hinduism along with minority Islamic groups