I.
THE CLASSICAL PATTERN
INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION c. 2500B.C.E.
Advanced Urban Civilization. MOHENJODARO and HARAPPA were two important cities.
VEDIC AGEc. 1500-600B.C.E.
Sanskrit speaking "Aryas" conquer indigenous
people
Emergence of "caste" based on
High philosophy of the Upanishads
Pastoral nomads to settled lifestyles
Emergence of early forms of the STATE
EARLY EMPIRES AND HETERODOXIESc. 600-232 B.C.E.
From states to Empires: MAURYAN empire,
zenith under ASHOKA.
Emergence of "heterodoxies": BUDDHA, MAHAVIRA
and other sects.
AGE OF EMPIRESc. 200 B.C.E.to c. 700 C.E. [A.D.]
Empires of the KUSHANAS (from Central Asia/ China) SHAKAS etc.
The GUPTA Empire: Classical Age?
Decline of Political Centralization
Efflorescence of literary and religious
texts.
RISE OF REGIONAL POWERS c. 600 to c.
1200 C.E. [A.D.]
Rise of Regional Powers all over the subcontinent. RAJPUTS become prominent.
CHOLA Empire flourishes in the South and overseas in S.E. Asia.
New ideas about worship: BHAKTI and VEDANTA
II.
MAKING OF AN INDO-ISLAMIC WORLD
ISLAM AND THE DELHI SULTANATES c. 1200 to 1526
Earliest Muslim-rules kingdom
in SIND c. 700 C.E.
Muslim RAIDERSlike Mahmud of Ghazni, c. 900-1000 C.E.
Delhi SULTANATE (Muslim rulers BASED
in the subcontinent) 1206
Various ruling dynasties in the Sultanate.
Last, defeated by BABUR in 1526.
Religion: Importance of SUFIS in spread
of Islam and proximity to BHAKTI ideas.
THE MUGHALS1526-1857
(effective power ends early 1700s.)
BABUR established, AKBAR and successors till AURANGZEB consolidate.
Period of Indo-Islamic synthesis in music, art, language, literature, and architecture.
Much of what the we know of "India"--
e.g. the TAJ MAHAL, Indian food, or music, comes from this era.
III.
THE EUROPEANS
Sixteenth Century: Portuguese dominance
in coastal areas. Mughals ignore navy, coastal powers did not use force
as that would keep trading ships away.
Seventeenth Century: North European Powers (Britain, France and the Dutch, gain at the expense of the Portuguese in South Asia.
English EAST INDIA COMPANY establishes
first warehouse in SURAT in 1619.
English establish other coastal centers
like MADRAS, BOMBAY, and CALCUTTA through the century.
Eighteenth Century: Beginning of British political dominance, especially after the battle of Buxar, and victories over the French in 1760. DIWANI or the Right to collect revenue from Bengal is a great source of profit.