History of India

                                         History of India 

Located in the continent of Asia, India has 2,973,193 square kilometers of land and 314,070 square kilometers of water, making it the 7th largest country in the world with a total area of ​​3,287,263 square kilometers. Bhutan is surrounded by Nepal and Bangladesh to the northeast, China to the north, Pakistan to the northwest and Sri Lanka off the southeast coast.

India is a country of ancient civilizations. India's social, economic and cultural configurations are the products of a long process of regional expansion. Indian history begins with the birth of the Indus Valley Civilization and the arrival of the Aryans. These two stages are usually described as pre-Vedic and Vedic ages. Hinduism emerged during the Vedic period.

The fifth century saw the unification of India under Ashoka, which converted to Buddhism, and it is during his reign that Buddhism spread to many parts of Asia. In the eighth century, Islam came to India for the first time and by the eleventh century was firmly established in India as a political force. This resulted in the formation of the Delhi Sultanate, which was eventually succeeded by the Mughal Empire, under which India once again achieved a greater measure of political unity.

It was the people of Europe who came to India in the 17th century. This paved the way for regional states, with the disintegration of the Mughal Empire. In the battle for supremacy, the English emerged as 'conquerors'. The Revolt of 1857–58, which sought to restore Indian domination, was crushed; And with the subsequent crowning of Victoria as the Queen of India, India's incorporation into the empire was complete. This was followed by India's struggle for independence, which we got in the year 1947. Here is a brief time about the history of India:

History of ancient India

The history of India begins with the arrival of the Indus Valley Civilization and the Aryans. These two stages are usually described as pre-Vedic and Vedic periods. The first literary source to shed light on India's past is the Rigveda. It is difficult to date this work with any accuracy based on the tradition and obscure astronomical information contained in the hymns. The Indus Valley Civilization, which flourished between 2800 BCE and 1800 BCE, was an advanced and prosperous economic system. The people of the Indus Valley made tools and weapons from agriculture, domesticated animals, copper and bronze and tin and even traded with some Middle East countries.

Indus Valley Civilization

A long time ago, in the Eastern world, some civilizations emerged. The main reason for the rise of these urban civilizations was access to rivers, which fulfilled various human functions. With the civilization of Mesopotamia and the civilization of Egypt, the Indus Valley Civilization expanded into Northwest India and modern Pakistan. The largest of the three civilizations, the Indus Valley Civilization flourished around 2600 BC, at which time agriculture flourished in India. The fertile Indus Valley carried forward agriculture in a big way. The most famous cities of the Indus Valley to date are Mohenjo Daro and Harappa. Upon seeing these two towns, excavators showed a glimpse of the richness of the Indus Valley civilization, spread across the ruins and household items, weapons of war, gold and silver jewelery - and similar things. The people of the Indus Valley civilization lived in well-planned towns and houses made of baked bricks. In an era of growth and prosperity, civilization, unfortunately, ended by around 1300 BCE, mainly due to natural disasters.

Vedic civilization

The next era that India saw was of the Vedic civilization, which was flourishing along the Saraswati River in the name of the Vedas, which portrays the early literature of the Hindus. The two greatest epics of this period were the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, which are still kept with great reverence by the followers of Hinduism.

Buddhist period

Then came the Buddhist era, during the 7th and 6th centuries BCE at the time of the Mahajanapadas which were the sixteen great powers. The major powers at that time were the Shakya of Kapilavastu and the Licchavi of Vaishali. Buddha, whose original name was Siddharth Gautama, was born in Lumbini near Kapilavastu and was the founder of Buddhism - a religion based on spirituality. He died at the age of 80 in 480 BC but his teachings spread throughout southern and eastern Asia and are followed worldwide today.

Alexander's Invasion

When Alexander invaded India in 326 BC, he crossed the Indus River and defeated the Indian rulers in battle. Despite the efforts of the Indians in the war, the use of elephants was something the Macedonians had never seen before. Alexander then took over the lands of the defeated kings.

Gupta Dynasty

The Gupta period has been called the golden age of Indian history. When Chandragupta received the gift of Pataliputra in dowry, when he married the daughter of the chief of the 'Lichchhavis', he began to lay the foundations of his empire, which extended from the Ganges River or the Ganges River to the city of Allahabad. He ruled for 15 years and was also called the 'King of Kings' for his strategic victory and the thriving kingdom of India.

One who increases Joy

The last of the ancient kings in India was Harshavardhana, who ascended the throne at Thaneshwar and Kannauj after the death of his brother. While succeeding in some of his conquests, he eventually lost to the Chalukya kingdom of Deccan India. Harshavardhana was also known for establishing relations with the Chinese and for high religious tolerance and strong administrative abilities.

Medieval Indian History

The medieval history of India is famous for deriving its character from Islamic states. Spanning approximately three generations, medieval India consisted of several states and dynasties:

- Chalukyas

- Pallavas

- Pandya

- Rashtrakuta

- Chola

The Cholas were the most important rulers of this time, 9th century AD. His kingdom covered a large part of South India, which included Sri Lanka and the Maldives. While the rulers ruled bravely and destroyed many territories in India, the empire came to an end in the 14th century AD with the invasion of a man named Kafur Malik. The monuments of the Chola dynasty are still intact and are known for their rustic charm.

The next major empire was that of the Mughals, which preceded the rise of Islamic rulers. The invasion of Timur was an important point in Indian history before a Hindu revival movement called the Bhakti movement. Finally, in the 16th century, the Mughal Empire emerged. One of the greatest empires of India, the Mughal Empire was a prosperous and magnificent, the whole of India united and ruled by an emperor. The Mughal kings were Babur, Humayun, Sher Shah Suri (not the Mughal King), Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb. He was responsible for establishing efficient public administration, laying out infrastructure and promoting the arts. A large number of monuments in India exist since the Mughal period. The death of the last Mughal king Aurangzeb sowed the seeds of disintegration within India. Influenced by Islamic architecture in India, Mughal kings are still visible in amazement.

Akbar

Emperor Akbar, also known as Akbar the Great or Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar, was the third emperor of the Mughal Empire after Babur and Humayun. He was the son of Naseeruddin Humayun and he attained succession as emperor in the year 1556 when he was only 13 years old.

Shah Jahan

Shah Jahan, also known as Shahabuddin Mohammad Shah Jahan, was a Mughal emperor who ruled the Indian subcontinent from 1628 to 1658. He was the fifth Mughal ruler after Babur, Humayun, Akbar and Jahangir. Shah Jahan attained the throne after rebelling against his father Jahangir.

Chhatrapati Shivaji

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was the founder of the Maratha Empire in Western India. He is considered to be one of the greatest warriors of his time and even today the stories of his adventures are told as part of folklore. King Shivaji used guerrilla tactics to capture a part of the erstwhile, major Mughal Empire.

Modern Indian History

In the late 16th and 17th centuries, European trading companies in India competed with each other. By the last quarter of the 18th century, the British overtook all others and established themselves as the dominant power in India. The British administered India for almost two centuries and brought revolutionary changes in the social, political and economic life of the country.

However, the peak of colonization was achieved when the British arrived as traders in the 1600s. To capitalize on the disintegration that existed in India after Mughal rule, the British actively used the 'divide-and-rule' strategy to rule India for over 2 centuries. While the British came first, they followed the Battle of Plassey in 1757 AD. I gained political power only.

He took a keen interest in the resources that India had to offer and was seen as a plunder of the wealth of India's resources - such as cotton, spices, silk, and tea, along with many other resources. While they excluded a large part of India's infrastructure, it was rarely seen as an equal relationship by bringing steam engines to Indians. The British Raj were divisive and pit Indians against each other on the basis of religion; And also mistreated the workers. Indians were essentially slaves of British rule and were working hard on their work without any reward. This, naturally, led to several mutants; And prominent freedom fighters came to the forefront. Different ideologies of thought believed that there were different ways to achieve independence; However, they all had one common goal - freedom.

The British queen claimed that the British intended to help India progress - however, many problems arose without consulting Indian leaders. An important example of this was when in World War I, Britain launched an attack on Germany from India, even though India did not wish it to happen; And millions of Indian soldiers were at the forefront of the British Indian Army during both world wars - further intensifying Indian resistance. More than one lakh Indian soldiers were killed in both world wars.