Chirag Patnaik

India — 2500 years to the Republic

A timeline and atlas of subcontinental history. Tap a pin, read the story, follow the chain of cause and effect.

Interactive map and timeline of Indian historical events with editorial threads connecting them.

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Indian Rebellion of 1857 · 10 May 1857 – 8 July 1858 (campaigning into 1859) Letters of Lakshmibai of Jhansi · November 1853 – June 1858 Sannyasi-Fakir Rebellion · c. 1763–1820 (peak 1770s–1790s) Faraizi Movement · c. 1830–1862 (peak under Dudu Miyan) Indigo Rebellion (Nil Bidroho) · March 1859 – December 1860 (Indigo Commission) Moinuddin Chishti establishes the Chishti silsila at Ajmer · c. 1192–1236 (Ajmer years) Nizamuddin Auliya at Delhi — Chishti silsila's high apex · c. 1265–1325 (Ghiyaspur/Nizamuddin years) Chaitanya Mahaprabhu launches Bengal Vaishnav bhakti · 1510–1534 (sannyas to Puri death) Babur inherits Ferghana · 8 June 1494 Babur loses Samarkand to the Uzbeks · April–May 1501 Babur takes Kabul · October 1504 Babur's final attempt on Samarkand · October 1511 — defeated at Ghazdivan November 1512 Babur's first Hindustan raid · January–March 1519 Babur takes Lahore · September 1524 Kol Insurrection · December 1831 – March 1832 Santhal Hool · 30 June 1855 – January 1856 Birsa Munda's Ulgulan · December 1899 – June 1900 (Birsa died in Ranchi jail) Crown takeover — Government of India Act 1858 and Queen's Proclamation · Act 2 Aug 1858; Proclamation 1 Nov 1858 Indian Councils Act 1861 · 1 August 1861 Morley-Minto Reforms — Indian Councils Act 1909 · 25 May 1909 Government of India Act 1919 — dyarchy · 23 December 1919 Government of India Act 1935 · Act 2 Aug 1935; provincial autonomy from 1 April 1937 Cabinet Mission Plan · Plan 16 May 1946; League withdrawal 29 July 1946 Harsha of Kanauj's accession · 606–647 CE (Harsha's reign) Pulakeshin II Chalukya defeats Harsha at the Narmada · c. 618 CE Xuanzang studies at Nalanda · c. 635–640 CE (Nalanda residency) Pala dynasty founded by Gopala · c. 750 CE (Gopala's election) Pallava Mahabalipuram shore temple complex · c. 700–728 CE (Shore Temple under Narasimhavarman II) Adi Shankara establishes Advaita Vedanta · c. 788–820 CE (traditional) Tripartite Struggle for Kanauj · c. 783–950 CE Rajaraja Chola consecrates the Brihadishvara temple · 1010 CE Rajendra Chola's naval expedition to Srivijaya · c. 1025 CE Mahmud of Ghazni sacks Somnath · January 1026 First Battle of Tarain · 1191 Bakhtiyar Khilji sacks Nalanda · c. 1193 Bombay ceded to England as Catherine of Braganza's dowry · Treaty of London 1661; leased to EIC 1668 Battle of Plassey · 23 June 1757 Battle of Buxar · Battle 22 Oct 1764; Treaty of Allahabad 12 Aug 1765 Permanent Settlement of Bengal · 22 March 1793 Doctrine of Lapse — Satara annexation · Satara April 1848; Jhansi, Nagpur, others through 1854 Annexation of Awadh · 7 February 1856 Vasco da Gama lands at Calicut · 20 May 1498 Albuquerque takes Goa from Bijapur · 25 November 1510 Dutch establish Pulicat factory on the Coromandel coast · 1610 (factory); 1613 (Fort Geldria) Danish East India Company establishes Tranquebar · 19 November 1620 French Compagnie des Indes establishes Pondicherry · 1674 Great Bengal Famine · 1769–1770 Great Madras (Deccan) Famine · August 1876 – December 1878 Indian Famine of 1899–1900 · August 1899 – December 1900 Bengal Famine 1943 · January 1943 – mid-1944 Tughluq Doab Famine · c. 1335–1342 Deccan–Gujarat Famine under Shah Jahan · 1630–1632 Chalisa Famine · 1783–1784 (Vikram Samvat 1840 'chalisa') Doji Bara ('Skull') Famine · 1791–1792 ('Doji bara' / Skull Famine) Chandragupta I founds the Gupta Empire · c. 320 CE (accession; coronation Era inaugurated) Samudragupta's conquests and the Allahabad prashasti · c. 335–375 CE (Samudragupta's reign) Chandragupta II Vikramaditya and the Iron Pillar · c. 380–415 CE (Chandragupta II's reign) Skandagupta defeats the Huna invasion · c. 460 CE Indian National Congress founded · 28–31 December 1885 Partition of Bengal · 16 October 1905 — annulled 12 December 1911 Lajpat Rai writes The Story of My Deportation · Deported May 1907; book published Lahore 1908 Champaran Satyagraha · April 1917 – May 1918 (Champaran Agrarian Act) Jallianwala Bagh massacre · 13 April 1919 Non-Cooperation Movement · September 1920 – February 1922 Chauri Chaura incident · 4 February 1922 Gandhi writes The Story of My Experiments with Truth · Serialised 1925–1929; book vols. 1927 and 1929 Selected Letters of Sarojini Naidu · December 1925 (Congress presidency) – August 1947 (UP governorship) Simon Commission protest, Lahore · 30 October – 17 November 1928 Lahore Session — Purna Swaraj declaration · 19–31 December 1929 Salt March (Dandi March) · 12 March – 6 April 1930 Civil Disobedience Movement · March 1930 – April 1934 Round Table Conferences · November 1930 – December 1932 (three sessions) Execution of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, and Sukhdev · 23 March 1931 Poona Pact between Gandhi and Ambedkar · 24 September 1932 Ambedkar publishes Annihilation of Caste · May 1936 (1st ed.); 1937 (2nd ed. with preface to Gandhi) Subhas Chandra Bose writes The Indian Struggle · Written Vienna 1934; pub. London Jan 1935 (vol. 2 posthumous 1948) Quit India Movement · 8 August 1942 (launch) — through 1944 Nehru writes The Discovery of India · April 1944 – September 1945 (published 1946) INA at Imphal–Kohima · March – July 1944 (Imphal); April – June 1944 (Kohima) Direct Action Day, Calcutta · 16–19 August 1946 Independence and Partition · 14–17 August 1947 Maulana Azad dictates India Wins Freedom · Dictated 1957–58 (suppressed pages opened 1988) Ryotwari Settlement of Madras · Munro's Madras governorship 1820–27 Mahalwari Settlement of the North-Western Provinces · September 1822 (Regulation VII) Achaemenid Persia annexes the Indus valley · c. 518 BCE Buddha's parinirvana at Kushinagar · c. 483 BCE (traditional; modern critical c. 410–400 BCE) Alexander defeats Porus at the Hydaspes · May 326 BCE Chandragupta Maurya founds the Maurya Empire · c. 322 BCE Ashoka's Kalinga War and dhamma turn · c. 261 BCE Ashoka's edicts proclaimed across the empire · c. 257–232 BCE Pushyamitra Sunga overthrows the Mauryas · c. 185 BCE First Battle of Panipat · 21 April 1526 Battle of Khanwa · 16 March 1527 Battle of Ghaghra · 6 May 1529 Death of Babur, accession of Humayun · Babur died 26 December 1530; Humayun crowned 29 December Babur composes the Baburnama · c. 1494–1530 (Persian translation 1589) Second Battle of Panipat · 5 November 1556 Akbar crowned at Kalanaur · 14 February 1556 Foundation of Fatehpur Sikri · 1571 — abandoned 1585 Battle of Haldighati · 18 June 1576 Mansabdari system codified · c. 1577 (codified during Akbar's reforms) Din-i Ilahi proclaimed · 1582 Death of Akbar · 27 October 1605 Abu'l-Fazl writes the Akbarnama · 1590–1602 (Abu'l-Fazl killed before completion) Jahangir writes the Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri · November 1605 – December 1624 (continued posthumously) Execution of Guru Arjan Dev · 30 May 1606 East India Company first farman · 11 January 1613 Persia takes Kandahar · May 1622 Construction of the Taj Mahal begins · 1632 — completed 1653 Mughal War of Succession · September 1657 — August 1659 Aurangzeb crowned at Delhi · 31 July 1658 (formal accession May 1659) Execution of Guru Tegh Bahadur · 11 November 1675 Aurangzeb re-imposes the jizya · 2 April 1679 Annexation of Bijapur and Golconda · Bijapur fell September 1686; Golconda October 1687 Execution of Sambhaji · 11 March 1689 Guru Gobind Singh founds the Khalsa · 30 March 1699 (Baisakhi) Death of Aurangzeb · 3 March 1707 Sukapha founds the Ahom kingdom · 1228 (Sukapha founds at Charaideo) Sikkim — Namgyal dynasty consecrated at Yuksom · 1642 (Yuksom consecration) Battle of Saraighat — Lachit Borphukan defeats the Mughals · March 1671 Burmese Devastation of Manipur (Chahi Taret Khuntakpa) · 1819–1826 (ended by Treaty of Yandabo) Treaty of Yandabo — end of First Anglo-Burmese War · 24 February 1826 Lushai Expedition — EIC enters the Mizo hills · December 1871 – April 1872 Khonoma Naga rising · 14 October 1879 – March 1880 Anglo-Manipur War — Battle of Khongjom · 24 March – 13 August 1891 Tripura Manikya dynasty under EIC paramountcy · 1761 (EIC paramountcy) – 15 October 1949 (accession) Naga independence declared by Phizo's NNC · 14 August 1947 (one day before Indian independence) Khasi Rebellion under Tirot Sing · April 1829 – January 1833 (Tirot Sing exiled, died 1835) Heraka Movement under Jadonang and Rani Gaidinliu · 1929–1932 (Gaidinliu jailed 14 years; released 1947) Madala Panji: Jagannath temple chronicles · c. 16th century onward (extant manuscripts; tradition older) Paika Rebellion under Buxi Jagabandhu · March 1817 – 1819 Khond (Kandh) Risings · 1837–1856 (Meriah Agency 1845; major risings 1846, 1855–56) Menander I's Indo-Greek empire · c. 155–130 BCE (Menander's reign) Kanishka I's Kushan empire and 4th Buddhist Council · c. 127–150 CE (Kanishka's reign) Sultan Jahan Begum writes Akhtar-i-Iqbal · Akhtar-i-Iqbal published 1912; An Account of My Life vols. 1910–1927 Telangana Rebellion · July 1946 – October 1951 Rammohan Roy writes Tuhfat-ul-Muwahhidin · 1803 (Murshidabad) Jyotirao Phule writes Gulamgiri (Slavery) · 1873 (Pune) Pandita Ramabai writes The High-Caste Hindu Woman · 1887 (Philadelphia; Sharada Sadan founded Pune 1889) Vivekananda's Chicago addresses and Indian lectures · 11 September 1893 (Chicago) – 1897 (return-to-India lectures) Tagore writes Jibansmriti / Reminiscences · 1912 (Bengali; English trans. 1917) Mahad Satyagraha · 20 March 1927 (first satyagraha) – 25 December 1927 (Manusmriti burning) First Kashmir War — Pakistan's tribal invasion and Indian intervention · 22 October 1947 – 1 January 1949 Operation Polo — annexation of Hyderabad · 13–18 September 1948 Indian Constitution adopted · Adopted 26 November 1949; in force 26 January 1950 Article 370 — Kashmir's accession bargain in the Constitution · Adopted 17 October 1949 States Reorganisation Act — linguistic states · Sriramulu died 15 Dec 1952; Act effective 1 Nov 1956 Operation Vijay — annexation of Goa · 17–19 December 1961 Sino-Indian War · 20 October – 21 November 1962 Second Indo-Pakistani War · 5 August – 23 September 1965 (Tashkent 10 January 1966) Green Revolution · 1965 onwards (high-yielding-variety package; food self-sufficiency by mid-1970s) Bangladesh Liberation War · 25 March – 16 December 1971 Pokhran-I — Smiling Buddha nuclear test · 18 May 1974 (08:05 IST) The Emergency · 25 June 1975 – 21 March 1977 Mandal Commission implementation · Announced 7 August 1990; agitation through autumn Advani's Ram Rath Yatra · 25 September – 23 October 1990 (V.P. Singh government fell 7 November) Babri Masjid demolition · 6 December 1992 Saha ionisation equation · October 1920 (Philosophical Magazine vol. 40) Discovery of the Raman effect · 28 February 1928 Madurai Sultanate founded · 1335 (Ahsan Khan declares) – 1378 (Vijayanagara reconquest) Vijayanagara founded by Harihara and Bukka · 18 April 1336 (Hampi) Bijapur Sultanate founded · 1490 (Bijapur declares; annexed by Aurangzeb 1686) Krishna Deva Raya's reign — Vijayanagara peak · August 1509 – October 1529 Golconda Sultanate founded · 1518 (Quli declares; annexed by Aurangzeb 1687) Battle of Talikota — Vijayanagara falls · 26 January 1565 Battle of Colachel — Travancore defeats the Dutch · 10 August 1741 Trippadidanam — Marthanda Varma dedicates Travancore · 3 January 1750 Battle of Pollilur — Hyder Ali defeats the EIC · 10 September 1780 Treaty of Mangalore — end of the Second Anglo-Mysore War · 11 March 1784 Treaty of Seringapatam — end of Third Anglo-Mysore War · 18 March 1792 Wodeyar restoration at Mysore · 30 June 1799 (formal coronation of Krishnaraja III) Vellore Mutiny · 10 July 1806 Tipu Sultan's Khwabnama (Book of Dreams) · 1786–1798 (37 entries; manuscript captured 1799) Moplah (Mappila) Rebellion · August 1921 – February 1922 (Wagon Tragedy 19 November) Rampa Rebellion under Alluri Sitarama Raju · August 1922 – 7 May 1924 (Raju executed without trial) Vaikom Satyagraha · 30 March 1924 – 23 November 1925 Second Battle of Tarain · 1192 Qutb-ud-din Aibak founds the Delhi Sultanate · 25 June 1206 (Lahore) Iltutmish consolidates the Sultanate · 1211 (accession) – 1236 (death) Genghis Khan reaches the Indus · 24 November 1221 (Battle of the Indus) Reign of Razia Sultan · November 1236 – October 1240 Balban accedes to the Sultanate · 1266 (accession) – 1287 (death) Alauddin Khalji's coronation · 22 October 1296 (Delhi) Alauddin's market price-control reforms · 1297–1305 (effective until c. 1316) Mongol siege of Delhi repulsed · September 1303 – early 1304 Siege of Chittor · January – 26 August 1303 Malik Kafur sacks Madurai · April – October 1311 (Madurai) Tughlaq dynasty founded · 5–8 September 1320 (Saraswati battle, then Delhi coronation) Capital shifted to Daulatabad · 1327 (order); reversed c. 1334 Muhammad bin Tughlaq's token currency · 1329 (issue) – 1332 (withdrawal) Bahmani Sultanate breaks away · 3 August 1347 (Daulatabad coronation) Firuz Shah Tughlaq's accession · 23 March 1351 – 20 September 1388 Ziauddin Barani writes Tarikh-i Firuz Shahi · c. 1357 Timur sacks Delhi · 17 December 1398 – 1 January 1399 Bahlul Lodi founds the Lodi dynasty · 19 April 1451 (Delhi) Ibrahim Lodi's accession · 22 November 1517 – 21 April 1526 Battle of Chausa · 26 June 1539 Sher Shah's administrative reforms · 1540 — 1545 (Sher Shah's reign) Battle of Wandiwash · Wandiwash 22 Jan 1760; Pondicherry surrendered 16 Jan 1761 Battle of Mahidpur — Third Anglo-Maratha War closure · Mahidpur 21 Dec 1817; Peshwa surrender 3 June 1818 First Anglo-Afghan War — retreat from Kabul · 6–13 January 1842 Battle of Gujrat — Second Anglo-Sikh War closure · Gujrat 21 Feb 1849; annexation 29 March 1849 Third Anglo-Burmese War — annexation of Upper Burma · War Nov 1885; annexation 1 Jan 1886
Time range 600 BCE — 2025 CE