History of India

Stone Age rock shelters with paintings in Bhimbetka rock shelters in Madhya Pradesh, are the first known traces of human life in India. The first permanent settlements appeared over 9000 years and developed in the Indus Valley civilization, which dates back to 3300 BCE in western India. It was followed by the Vedic period, which laid the foundations of Hinduism and other cultural aspects of early Indian society, and ended at 500 francs the ECB. From about 550 BCE, many independent kingdoms and republics known as a Mahajanapadas have been established throughout the country. In the third century BC, most of South Asia was united in the Maurya Empire by Chandragupta Maurya and flourished under Ashoka the Great. From the third century AD, the Gupta dynasty oversaw the period referred to the former, "the golden age of India." Empires in southern India, including the Chalukya, Chola and the Vijayanagara Empire. Science, engineering, art, literature, astronomy, and philosophy flourished under the patronage of these kings. After the invasion of Central Asia between the tenth and twelfth centuries, much of northern India came under the rule of Sultanate of Delhi and later the Mughal Empire. Under the rule of Akbar the Great, India enjoyed the cultural and economic progress and religious harmony. Mughal emperors gradually expanded their empires to cover much of the subcontinent. However, in the North-East India, the dominant power was the Ahom kingdom of Assam, one of several kingdoms have resisted the Mughal domination. The first major threat to the Mughal imperial power came from a Hindu Maratha state known as the confederation, which has dominated much of India in the mid-18th century.

Sixteenth century, European powers like Portugal, the Netherlands, France and the United Kingdom has created jobs, and later took advantage of conflicts, to establish settlements in the country. In 1856, most of India was under the control of the British East India Company. A year later, a national uprising, revolt of military units and kingdoms, known as the India of the first War of Independence or the Sepoy Mutiny, seriously challenged the Company's control, but eventually failed. Because of instability, India was placed under direct administration of the British Crown. Mahatma Gandhi (right) with  Jawaharlal Nehru, 1937. Nehru became India's first Prime Minister in 1947.
 

In the twentieth century, a national struggle for independence was launched by the Indian National Congress and other political organizations. Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi led millions of people in the campaigns of nonviolent civil disobedience. On 15 August 1947, India gained its independence from British rule, but at the same time, a Muslim  majority have been shared to form a separate state of Pakistan. On 26 January 1950, India became a republic and a new constitution came into force.