THE HISTORY OF INDIA

                                        the history of

india is filled with incredible stories

of

thriving civilizations religions and

cultures dating all the way back to the

paleoithic

age india's civilization is one of the

oldest that we know

and has played a part on the world stage

for centuries

and even still today while it is

impossible to truly capture

all of india's history in one video it

still serves

as a worthy topic to delve into evidence

of cave paintings and stone

tools have revealed that the first signs

of human activity in india can be traced

back to somewhere between

400 000 and 200 000 bc

details concerning the civilizations

inhabiting the region back that long ago

do not exist but we do know that one of

the first

sophisticated societies to walk the

lands of india

was the harappan people who likely

existed

throughout the first few thousand years

bc

positioned along the indus river the

harappan people had their own writing

system

advanced social and economic system and

impressive

urban cities and architecture it is

unknown

why this civilization collapsed around

1500 bc

but some attribute their demise to the

common floods

and other natural disasters in the

region or potentially

invaders from western and central asia

the next known civilization to leave a

mark on indian history books

was the vedic aryans these people were

initially migrants who spoke an early

form of sanskrit and were determined to

stay true

to their own tribal identity the name

they've been given

the vedic people comes from four sacred

texts or

vedas that have presented researchers

with a glimpse

into the civilization's lives and

beliefs

these vedas are often considered to be

the oldest hindu scripts

and the vedic civilization is believed

to have spread their culture across a

large

portion of india by roughly 1000 bc

with them the vedic aryans brought their

philosophical beliefs

these ideas represent a theory that

happiness and salvation

come from a person's morals and ethics

and one's path

should be based upon their place in life

but should always

be righteous and good the vedic aryans

also shared their societal system as

they extended their reach

this system was made up originally of

three tears

brahman or priest kashtriya or

warrior and vaishia or commoner

the aryans continued to spread their

tribal settlements across

india throughout the following centuries

as their own civilization grew and

flourished in both culture and trade a

series of

16 individual settlements or states

spanned across northern india

including the gandhara kusala kuru

and the magat the latter particularly

flourished under the rule of

chandragupta maurya during the 4th

century bc

as it began to expand and its leader

grew his own authority

and worked to form the mauryan empire

which is believed

to be the first indian imperial power

the mauryan empire established its

capital in battali putra

near modern-day patna and constructed

extraordinary temples

libraries palaces and even a university

the empire's trade success was

impressive and it maintained a

remarkable governmental system

and strong army by the time of the third

emperor

the grandson of chandragupta a stance of

non-violence was taken

after a bloody struggle against the

kingdom of kalinga

due to the emperor's new buddhist

beliefs

siddhartha gautama the buddha had been

born in 560 bc

and by the reign of emperor ashoka the

religious system he had founded was

becoming more and more prevalent

throughout india potentially due to

their unwillingness to participate in

conflict though

the mauryan empire eventually dissolved

in the 2nd century bc

after the last line of the maurya line

brihadratha

was murdered by his commander-in-chief

who would later found the shanga dynasty

in 185 bc

despite the fact that brihadratha's

assassin pushy mitra was rumored to have

persecuted buddhists it appeared that

buddhism

faced no decline concurrent with his

rise to power

during pushrumitra's reign his kingdom

maintained authority

over a series of provinces as he stood

his ground against other powers

attempting to expand their territory

towards his own

after the monarch's death though his

dynasty seemed to have fallen in terms

of importance

the dynasty is not known to have done

anything

notably relevant and their control was

short-lived

a variety of settlements and invading

powers controlled india at this time one

being the kushana kingdom known for

their significant trade involvement with

chinese

persian and roman empires along the silk

road

one kushana ruler konishka in the 1st

century a.d

also converted to buddhism and helps to

further the religion throughout the

region

in 75 a.d the kushana kingdom marked

a new era the shaka era a bit of

distance from the kushanas in the south

a handful of other powers rose fell

and fought for supremacy amongst each

other the kingdoms of satavahana

chera chola and panja were some of the

major authorities in the south during

this time

and through the classical age the gupta

empire became the face

of northern india during the classical

age and the majority of the region was

united

under their authority during what is

often described

as northern india's golden age the reign

of the gupta empire

is regarded as a time of law and order

as well

as cultural flourishing the rulers of

the empire

were no strangers to military expedition

but aims to expand their territory

through peaceful means such as martial

alliances

no less than through military action

though the gupta empire had

extensive success over centuries they

eventually

reached a point of decline between the

5th and 6th centuries

as invading huns from central asia began

to annex

and take over the formerly dominant

empire's land

as the religions of buddhism and what

later became hinduism thrived

local and trespassing authorities

continued to fight

for territory and dominion over the

following centuries

the next major shakeup of the indian

civilization

came with the arrival of islam

muslim invaders began to send missions

to india the century

after the death of the prophet muhammad

a series of muslim sultans began to lead

expeditions into india claiming places

such as sindh

multan and samnath these incursions

brought the defeat of native kingdoms

and the destruction of hindu temples

along the way

the rajputs stood as one of the most

determined defenders against sultan

invaders but they were ultimately

defeated in 1192

by muhammad gory and his forces as islam

began to work its way into india

other previously principal religions

such as buddhism

began to decline by the start of the

13th century

the era of the delhi sultanates dominion

arose

the first dynasty within the delhi

sultanate was founded by ketub

ud din ibak the slave dynasty controlled

the sultanate

until around and 1290 when the khilji

dynasty took over

first by the hand of jahal ud-din khilji

his family held the throne for less than

a century as the tug lag dynasty was

next to sea's power in 1320

the tuglak dynasty technically retained

power

until 1412 but matters were complicated

by the incursion led by timur and 1398

into delhi as the tuglak dynasty

weakened

the saeed dynasty replaced them starting

in 1414

the sayyids lasted for roughly 37 years

but the last ruler's reign was stained

by rebellion and discord

as the dynasty fell from grace yet

another dynastic authority took the open

throne

this time being the lodi dynasty the new

dynasty lasted

until the death of the then current

ruler ibrahim khan

lodi who was killed in battle at panipat

by the army of kabul's leader babour in

1526

ibrahim's death brought about the final

end of the delhi sultanate as a whole

now free of competition from the lodi

dynasty

the board established the mughal dynasty

which would end up becoming

one of the greatest throughout history

the original

turkic mongol imperial power ruled a

vast majority of india for over

two centuries and brought about

significant cultural growth and

architectural achievements

including the great taj mahal despite

their immense success

the mughal empire began its decline

around the start of the 18th century

as revolt after revolt began to shake

the foundations of the widespread power

alongside threats from the marathas and

the british

the british east india company had

actually already been in the region for

some time

but the situation with the british

started to escalate not

long after the mughals fell by 1857

india displayed increasing control by

the east india company

and the locals were having none of it

what began

as a simple revolt by indian soldiers in

merit

quickly blew up into a widespread

rebellion and became known as the indian

mutiny of

1857. this rebellion later would be

called the first war of

indian independence and even though the

british were able to quell the revolt

after a matter of months

it inevitably had lasting impacts in

response to the mutiny

on november 1 1858 britain's queen

victoria declared that

india would be ruled in the name of the

british crown

from that point on locals maintained

their disapproval and anger at the

british supremacy over their land

and nationalist sentiments and movements

were far from extinguished the next

major move

towards independence came when mahatma

gandhi and the indian national congress

decided to withdraw all cooperation with

the british government

beginning the non-cooperation movement

following the end

of world war one when this strategy did

not bring the wanted results

gandhi adopted a new technique in the

form

of the civil disobedience movement in

december of 1929.

essentially the movement was made up of

the declaration of an

indian independence day that would be

celebrated on january 16th

and complete disobedience of any orders

by

the british government again gandhi's

strategy failed

and this time he was even arrested while

many other rebels

were murdered still the british were

eventually pushed into the round table

conferences

beginning in november of 1930 the second

of which

gandhi attended the conferences marked

another failure

and civil disobedience reignited

gandhi's next attempt

the quit india movement again made no

drastic progress world war ii brought

about new

issues as india was forced into war by

the british but at the conflict's

conclusion

a new labour party came into power in

india and showed sympathy

towards the fight for independence

finally

as august 14th turned to 15th in 1947

india became an independent nation