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Jul 1, 1497
Vasco De Gama wsails For India
The Portuguese explorer, Vasco De Gama, sets sail for India. He is looking for a route to Asia to start the spice trade. He finds India and brings back 60 times the cost of his voyage. -
The Establishment of The British East India Empire
The British East India Company set up trading posts at Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta. European trade was controlled by the Mughal Dyanasty, but when it collapsed, the British East India Company took over. -
Industrial Revolution in Britain
Wealthy land owners bought lands from farmers and improved farming by inventing new machines. For example, Jethro Tull He created the seed drill in 1701. The seed drill planted seed that were perfect; they had the right depth and spacing. Many more scientific farmers created new ways to improve farming like the crop rotation to restore nutrients in the soil. -
British overcome French and take control of India
Robert Clive led the East India company into a victorious battle with India and their allies, the French. The battle was called the Battle of Plassey. After they won they started to take control of India. -
Sepoy Rebellion
It started when gossip spread that their cartridges were greased with beef and pork fat. Hindus and Muslims were enraged because they had to bite off both ends of the cartridge to use it, and Hindus believe cows are sacred, while Muslims don't eat pork. This was going against their religion. The result of the rebellion was that the British government took direct control of India and fueled racist attitudes of the British. -
Decline of the Mughal empire
The Mughal emperors did not feel threatened by the European traders. In 1661, Aurangzeb casually handed them the port of Bombay. Aurangzeb had no idea that he had given India's next rulers their first step in the future empire. -
British colonized India
The British took direct control of India because they were afraid of more Indian rebellions. After killing the last Mughal emperor, Queen Victoria, from Britain, became the first empress of India. -
Creation of the Indian National Congress (INC)
The growing nationalism in India led to the creation of the INC. Indians didn't like being treated second-class in their own country; they wanted change. They wanted a self-government. Indians wanted independence from Britain. -
Creation of the Muslim League
Muslims felt that the Congress Party was only looking out for the needs and interests of Hindus. They didn't want to be freed from the British just so that afterwards the Hindus could rule them. They wanted independence fro everyone. -
Rowlett Acts
The Rowlett Acts were laws that allowed the British government in India to jail anti-British protesters without trial for as long as two years. Some Indians had a Western-education; they saw that the Rowlett Acts violated their rights. -
Amritsar Massacre
About 10,000 Hindus and Muslims went to Amritsar, a major city in the Punjab, to protest the unfair Rowlatt acts. There was a ban on public meetings so the British opened fire in an enclosed courtyard on hundreds of unarmed civilians. This caused a flood of anger and hatred for Britain across India; loyal British Indians became nationalists in a blink of an eye. -
Mohandas Gandhi's leadership of the INC
Gandhi's battled injustice with many strategies that came from all the different major religions, which created a lot of followers for him. He promoted civil disobedience, which means the deliberate and public refusal to obey an unjust law. He also promoted to fight for freedom without violence. -
Gandhi's Travels Stressing Nonviolent Resistance
Gandhi promoted civil disobedience and nonviolence as the way to gain independence from Britain. He helped create boycotts on British goods, like cloth; Indians hand-wove their own cloth instead of buying British made clothes. He also promoted strikes and demonstrations, which all together greatly impacted the British economy. -
The Salt March
To protest against the hated Salt Acts, which stated that they had to buy their salt from the British government and no other source, and that they had to pay taxes on the salt, Gandhi led the Salt March. For the Salt March, many Indians walked 240 miles to the seacoast to create their own salt by letting the saltwater from the sea evaporate. -
Government of India Act
The Government of India Act let Indians set up local self-governments, and have limited democratic elections. It didn't give India total independence, but it gave hope to Indians that there is a chance to gain full independence. -
WWII- Riots Between Hindus and Muslims
Muslims refused to take part in a Hindu governed country so rioting between the two religious groups broke out. One major fight took place in Calcutta, where 5,000 people died and more than 15,000 people got hurt. -
Partition
Britain divided its colonies into two nations: India and Pakistan. -
Indian/ Pakistan Independence
The British House of Commons passed an act giving the separated British colonies, India and Pakistan, independence -
Gandhi's Death
Gandhi was shot by a Hindu extremist. The extremist thought that Gandhi was overprotective of Muslims so he killed him, which is an example of the violence that was going on at that time.
