c. 2600–1900 BCE. Mature phase of the Indus Valley Civilization
c. 2000–1500 BCE. Arrival of steppe-pastoralist ancestry and Indo-European languages in northwest South Asia (replaces the “Aryan invasion, c. 1500 BCE” entry, which was wrong)
c. 1500–1200 BCE. Composition of the Rigveda
c. 1000–500 BCE. Later Vedic period; iron, eastward settlement of the Gangetic plain, composition of the early Upanishads
c. 6th century BCE. The earliest carbon dates from Keeladi, an urban settlement in the Tamil country
c. 6th century BCE. Consolidation of the sixteen mahajanapadas in the north
c. 563 BCE. Traditional date for the birth of Siddhartha Gautama; modern scholarship ranges from the 6th to the 4th century BCE
599–527 BCE. Traditional dates for Mahavira
326 BCE. Alexander’s campaign reaches the Punjab
c. 321 BCE. Chandragupta Maurya takes Pataliputra
c. 268–232 BCE. Reign of Ashoka
c. 261 BCE. Kalinga War; Ashoka’s later edicts record remorse and a commitment to dhamma
c. 300 BCE – 300 CE. The Sangam period in the Tamil country: Cheras, Cholas, and Pandyas
c. 180 BCE. Menander I, Indo-Greek king at Sagala
c. 100 BCE. Beginning of Saka (Scythian) rule in northwestern India
1st century CE.Periplus of the Erythraean Sea describes trade with the Malabar coast
1st century CE. Traditional account of St Thomas bringing Christianity to Kerala; historically unverified
c. 30–375 CE. The Kushan Empire, the Gandhara school of sculpture
320–550 CE. The Gupta Empire
c. 470 CE onward. Alchon Hun incursions contribute to the Gupta collapse
c. 6th–9th centuries. Pallava rule at Kanchipuram; the monuments at Mamallapuram
606–647 CE. Harsha’s reign in North India
628 CE. Brahmagupta writes the Brāhmasphuṭasiddhānta at Bhillamala, setting out arithmetic rules involving zero
7th century. Xuanzang travels through India
c. 7th–9th centuries. The Tamil bhakti movement: the Alvars and Nayanars
6th–10th centuries. Chalukya and Rashtrakuta dynasties in the Deccan
c. 8th century. The Kailasa temple at Ellora, cut downward from a single rock face
788 CE. Traditional birth date of Adi Shankaracharya
Rajput Period (c. 900–1200)
985–1014. Rajaraja Chola I; the Brihadeeswarar temple at Thanjavur
1001–1027. Mahmud of Ghazni’s raids, including the sack of Somnath
c. 1025. Rajendra Chola I’s naval expedition against Srivijaya
c. mid-11th century. Anangpal II builds Lal Kot, generally described as Delhi’s first fortified city
1191. First Battle of Tarain: Prithviraj Chauhan defeats Muhammad Ghori
1192. Second Battle of Tarain: Prithviraj is defeated and killed
Delhi Sultanate (1206–1526)
1206. Qutb-ud-din Aibak becomes Sultan of Delhi
c. 1292–93. Marco Polo passes through South India
1336. Founding of the Vijayanagara Empire
1398. Timur sacks Delhi
1451. Bahlul Lodi founds the Lodi dynasty
1469. Birth of Guru Nanak
1498. Vasco da Gama reaches Calicut
Mughals and Early Modern (1526–1857)
1526. Babur defeats the last Lodi Sultan at the First Battle of Panipat
1556. Akbar becomes emperor at thirteen
1564. Akbar abolishes the jizya
1565. Battle of Talikota; fall of Vijayanagara
1600. English East India Company chartered
1632. Shah Jahan begins the Taj Mahal
1658–1707. Reign of Aurangzeb
1674. Shivaji is crowned; the French establish a trading post at Pondicherry
1679. Aurangzeb reimposes the jizya
1699. Guru Gobind Singh founds the Khalsa at Anandpur
1739. Nadir Shah sacks Delhi
1757. Battle of Plassey
1765. The Company is granted the diwani of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa
1799. Ranjit Singh takes Lahore
1801. Ranjit Singh assumes the title of maharaja; the Sikh Empire is conventionally dated from this year
1818. The defeat of the Marathas establishes British paramountcy
1857. The Uprising begins; Bahadur Shah Zafar is deposed
British Raj (1858–1947)
1858. Crown rule begins; Company administration and formal Mughal rule end
1869. Birth of M.K. Gandhi
1885. Founding of the Indian National Congress
1891. Birth of B.R. Ambedkar
1906. Founding of the Muslim League
1919. Jallianwala Bagh massacre
1930. The Salt March
1942. Quit India Movement
1943. Bengal famine; roughly three million dead
1945–46. Red Fort trials of Indian National Army officers
February 1946. Royal Indian Navy mutiny
Independence (1947 onward)
15 August 1947. Independence and Partition; Nehru becomes Prime Minister
1947–48. Accession of Jammu & Kashmir and the first war with Pakistan
30 January 1948. Assassination of Gandhi
26 January 1950. India becomes a republic
1956. States Reorganization Act redraws state boundaries on linguistic lines; Ambedkar converts to Buddhism at Nagpur
1962. Indo-China War
1965. Second war with Pakistan
mid-1960s onward. The Green Revolution transforms Indian agriculture
1971. War with Pakistan; independence of Bangladesh
1974. First nuclear test
1975–1977. The Emergency
1984. Operation Blue Star; assassination of Indira Gandhi; anti-Sikh violence in Delhi and elsewhere
1990–92. Mandal Commission recommendations implemented; Indra Sawhney caps total reservations at 50%
1991. Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi; economic liberalization begins
1992. Destruction of the Babri Masjid
1998. Pokhran-II nuclear tests; the NDA government under Vajpayee, which runs to 2004
2002. Communal violence in Gujarat
2005. Right to Information Act
2008. Mumbai attacks
2014. Narendra Modi becomes Prime Minister
2016. Demonetization; introduction of GST the following year
2019. Abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu & Kashmir; Supreme Court judgment on Ayodhya
2020–21. COVID-19 pandemic; the farmers’ protests
2023. India becomes the most populous country; Chandrayaan-3 lands near the lunar south pole
2024. Consecration of the Ram temple at Ayodhya; the BJP loses its single-party majority but the NDA wins the general election and Narendra Modi begins a third term
2025. The Union government decides that the next census will enumerate caste
2026. The houselisting phase of India’s first digital census begins
Scheduled
February 2027. Population enumeration for the sixteenth census, delayed from 2021: India’s first digital census and the first since Independence to enumerate caste beyond Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The reference date is 1 March 2027; snowbound regions are counted earlier
