| HISTORICAL EVENTS | |
| B.C | |
| 2500-1800 | Indus valley civilization. |
| 599 | Birth of Mahavir; Nirvana in 523. B.C. |
| 563 | Birth of Gautam Buddha; Nirvana in 483 B.C. |
| 327-26 | Alexander's invasion of India and the opening of land route between India and Europe. |
| 269-232 | Ashoka's reign. |
| 261 | Battle of Kalinga. |
| 57 | Beginning of Vikrama era. |
| 30 | Satvahana dynasty in Deooan. Pandyan empire in for south. |
| 326 | Alexander defeated Poras in the Battle of Hydaspas |
| 261 | Ashoka defeated Kalinga in the Kalinga War |
| A.D | |
| 78 | Beginning of Saka era. |
| 320 | Beginning of Gupta era. |
| 360 | Samudragupta conquers the whole of N. India and much of the Deccan. |
| 380-413 | Rule of Chandragupta Vikramaditya, age of Kalidasa, renewal of induism. |
| 606-647 | Rule of Harshavardhana. |
| 629-645 | Hieun Tsang's visit in India. |
| 622 | Beginning of Hijra era. |
| 712 | Arab invasion of Sind by Mohd. bin Qasim. |
| 1001-27 | Repeated attacks of Mehmud Ghazni. |
| 1025 | Sacking of Somnath temple by Mehmud. |
| 1191 | First battle of Tarain in which Prithviraj Chauhan defeated Mohd. Ghori. |
| 1192 | Second battle of Tarain in which Mohd. Ghori defeated Prithviraj Chauhan. |
| 1206 | Qutubuddin Aibak founded the Ilbari/Slave dynasty. |
| 1290 | Jalaluddin Firuz Khilji established Khilji dynasty. |
| 1290 | Marco Polo visited India. |
| 1320 | Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq founded the Tughlaq dynasty. |
| 1333 | Ibn Batuta arrived in India. |
| 1336 | Harihara and Bukka founded the Vijaynagar empire. |
| 1347 | Bahmani kingdom founded. |
| 1398 | Timur invades India. |
| 1451 | Lodi dynasty comes in power in Delhi Sultanate. |
| 1469 | Birth of Guru Nanak Dev. |
| 1498 | Vasco da Gama lands at Calicut. |
| 1510 | Portuguese capture Goa-Albuquerque Governor. |
| 1526 | First Battle of Panipat in which Babar defeated Ibrahim Lodhi and established the Mughal dynasty. |
| 1556 | Second battle of Panipat in which Akbar defeated Hemu. |
| 1565 | Battle of Talikota in which Vijaynagar empire is defeated. |
| 1571 | Foundation of Fatehpur Sikri by Akbar. |
| 1576 | Battle of Haldighati in which Akbar defeated Maharana Pratap. |
| 1582 | Akbar started Din-i-llahi. |
| 1600 | English East India Company established. |
| 1604 | Compilation of Adi Granth. |
| 1605 | Death of Akbar. |
| 1611 | The English built a factory at Masulipatnam. |
| 1627 | Birth of Shivaji |
| 1631 | Death of Shah Jahan's wife Mumtaz Mahal. The building of Taj Mahal. |
| 1658 | Aurangzeb became Emperor of Delhi. |
| 1666 | Birth of Guru Gobind Singh. |
| 1699 | Guru Gobind Singh creates 'Khalsa'. |
| 1707 | Death of Aurangzeb, fall of Mughal empire begins. |
| 1739 | Nadir Shah invaded India; the peacock throne and the Kohinoor Diamond taken away from India. |
| 1757 | Battle of Plassey in which the English defeated Siraj-ud- daula, Nawab of Bengal. |
| 1760 | Battle of Wandiwash, end of French power in India, |
| 1761 | Third Battle of Panipat in which Ahmed Shah Abdali defeated the Marathas. |
| 1764 | Battle of Buxar in which the English defeated the triple alliance of Nawab Mir Qasim of Bengal, Nawab Shuja-ud-daula of Awadh and Mughal emperor Shah Alam. |
| 1793 | Permanent settlement in Bengal. |
| 1799 | Fourth Anglo Mysore War, death of Tipu Sultan, Ranjit Singh occupied Lahore and made it his capital. |
| 1817-19 | Marathas finally crushed. |
| 1828 | Lord William Bentick becomes Governor General; Era of social reforms; Prohibition of Sati (1829), Suppression of thugs (1830). |
| 1835 | Introduction of English as medium of instruction. |
| A.D | |
| 1853 | First Indian railway from Bombay to Thane. |
| 1857-58 | First war of Indian Independence. |
| 1858 | British crown takes over the Indian Government; End of East India Company's rule. |
| 1861 | Birth of Rabindra Nath Tagore. |
| 1869 | Birth of M.K. Gandhi. |
| 1885 | Formation of Indian National Congress. |
| 1905 | Partition of Bengal by Lord Curzon. |
| 1906 | Formation of All India Muslim League. |
| 1909 | Minto-Morley Reforms. |
| 1911 | Delhi durbar held, partition of Bengal cancelled, capital shifted from Calcutta to Delhi. |
| 1914 | World War I started. |
| 1918 | End of World War I. |
| 1919 | Rowlatt Act, Jallianwala Bagh massacre, Montague- Chelmsford reforms. |
| 1920 | Non-cooperation Movement launched, |
| 1921 | Moplah rebellian in Malabar; visit of Prince of Wales. |
| 1922 | Chauri-Chaura incidence. |
| 1923 | Swaraj party formed. |
| 1927 | Simon Commission appointed. |
| 1928 | Visit of Simon Commission to India, death of Lala Lajpat Rai. |
| 1929 | Congress demanded'Poorna Swaraj'in Lahore session. |
| 1930 | January 26 celebrated as Independence Day throughout India, Dandi Salt Satyagraha, First Round Table conference. |
| 1931 | Gandhi-lrvin Pact, Second Round Table Conference. |
| 1932 | Suppression of Congress Movement, Third Round Table Conference, Communal Award, Poona Pact. |
| 1935 | Government of India Act. |
| 1937 | Inauguration of Provincial Autonomy. Congress ministries formed in 8 out of 11 provinces. |
| 1939 | Resignation of Congress ministries, beginning of World War II. |
| 1942 | Cripps Mission Plan, Quit India Movement, Formation of Indian National Army by S.C. Bose. |
| 1945 | Simla conference held and the failure of Wavell Plan, INA trials at Red Fort, Delhi. |
| 1946 | Cabinet Mission Plan, Formation of Interim Government, Direct Action Resolution by Muslim League. |
| 1947 | Mountbatten Plan of June 3 in which partition of India resolution is proposed, India divided, Pakistan created, both achieve independence, Jawarhar Lai Nehru becomes the I Prime Minister of India. |
| 1948 | Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi (Jan. 30). |
| 1950 | India became republic (Jan. 26). |
| 1951 | First Five Year Plan implemented. |
| 1952 | First General Elections held. |
| 1953 | Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary conquer Mt. Everest (May 29). |
| 1954 | Panchsheel agreement between India and China. |
| 1956 | Life insurance nationalized, State Reorganising Act comes into force. |
| 1957 | Second General Elections. |
| 1958 | Metric system of weights and measures introduced. |
| 1959 | Dalai Lama exiled; enters India. |
| 1961 | Liberation of Goa. |
| 1962 | Chinese attack on India. (Oct 20). |
| 1964 | Jawaharlal Nehru dies; Lai Bahadur Shastri becomes PM. |
| 1965 | Indo-Pak war. |
| 1966 | Tashkent Agreement reached, Death of Lai Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi became PM. |
| 1967 | Dr. Zakir Hussain elected President. |
| 1968 | Hargovind Khurana shares the Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology. |
| 1969 | Death of. President Zakir Hussain (May 3). V. V. Giri elected President, Nationalization of 14 leading banks, Split in Indian National Congress. |
| 1970 | Former Indian ruler's privy purses abolished. Dr. C. V. Raman died (Nov. 2). |
| 1971 | Indo-Pak War over Bangladesh. |
| 1972 | Shimla Agreement signed. |
| 1973 | Manekshaw named India's first Field Marshal |
| 1974 | Nuclear explosion at Pokhran (May 18). |
| 1975 | Indian satellite 'Aryabhatta' launched, National emergency declared. |
| 1976 | The four Indian News agencies merged into a single News Agency known as 'Samachar', life of Lok Sabha extended by an year. |
| 1977 | Defeat of Mrs. Indira Gandhi in the election, Morarji Desai takes over as PM, emergency withdrawn. |
| 1978 | India launches world's biggest adult literacy plan (Oct. 2). |
| 1979 | Charan Singh became PM., Mother Teresa won the Nobel Peace Prize. |
| 1980 | Indira Gandhi returns to power at centre, India launches first satellite using its own satellite launching vehicle (July. 18). |
1981 | India launched APPLE, Khalistan activists hijack Indian Airlines Boeing 737 to Lahore. |
| 1982 | Zail Singh sworn in as President, the 21-member Indian scientific expedition headed by Dr. S. Z. Qasim lands on Antarctica (Jan. 9), INSAT1 A launched, Ninth Asian Games held in New Delhi. |
| 1983 | The 7th Non Aligned Summit in New Delhi, Kalpakkam Atomic Energy plant goes critical (July 2), INSAT-1 B launched (Aug. 30), Richard Attenborough's "Gandhi" wins 8 oscars. |
| 1984 | Rakesh Sharma becomes India's first spaceman (Apr. 5), Bachendri Pal become the first Indian woman to scale Mt. Everest (May 23), Operation Blue Star, Assassination of Indira Gandhi (Oct 31), Rajiv Gandhi becomes PM, Bhopal Gas tragedy (Dec. 3). |
| 1985 | Anti-defection Bill passed (Jan. 3), Azharuddin hits 3 centuries in 3 tests. |
| 1986 | The first wholly Indian test-tube baby bom at KEM Hospital, Bombay (Aug. 7). |
| 1987 | Sunil Gavaskar becomes the first batsman to score 10,000 runs in tests (Mar. 7), Goa becomes the 25th state of India (May 30). |
| 1988 | India's first remote sensing satellite IRS 1 -A launched from Russia (Mar. 17), INSAT 1-C launched from French Guyana (July 22). |
| 1989 | Successful test of Agni (May 22), laying of the foundation stone for the Ram Janmabhoomi temple of Ayodhya (Nov 10). V.P. Singh becomes the PM. |
| 1990 | Successful launching of INSAT 1-D (June 12), Mandal Commission recommendation implemented (Aug. 7), V.P. Singh tenders resignation (Nov. 7), S. Chandrashekhar becomes PM. (Nov. 10). |
| 1991 | Rajiv Gandhi killed in a bomb blast (May 21), P. V. Narsimha Rao became PM. (June 21), Earthquake in Uttarkashi region (Oct. 20), Satyajit Ray got special Oscar award. (Dec.16). |
| 1992 | Prithvi test fired (May 5), INSAT-2 A launched (July 10), Dr. Shanker Dayal Sharma became President (July 25), the domes of Babri Masjid demolished (Dec 6). |
| 1993 | Panchayati Raj Act effective (Apr. 24), INSAT-2 B launched from French Guyana (July 23), Earthquake in Latur region (Sept. 30). |
| 1994 | First heart transplant in the country (Aug. 3), PSLV D-2 launched (Oct. 15). |
| 1995 | Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh assassinated (Agu. 31), INSAT-2 C launched (Dec. 7) |
| 1996 | A.B. Vajpayee became PM. (May 16), H.D. Deve Gowda became PM. (June 1), India-Bangladesh sign Ganga Water Pact (Dec. 12) |
| 1997 | I. K. Gujral became PM. (Apr. 21), K. R. Narayanan sworn in as President (July 25), Mother Teresa passes away (Sept. 5), Arundhati Roy wins Booker Prize (Oct. 14), I. K. Gujral resigns as PM. (Nov. 28) |
| 1998 | Konkan railway commissioned (Jan. 26), A. B. Vajpayee became PM. (Mar. 19), India conducted total 5 nuclear tests (May 11 and May 13), Severe cyclone in Gujarat (June 9), Amartya Sen won the Noble Prize in Economics (Oct. 14) |
| 1999 | P.M. Vajpayee arrived in Pakistan by Delhi-Lahore bus (Feb. 20), India successfully launched its first commercial telecom satellite INSAT-2 E from Kourou (Apr. 3), Intense fighting in Kargil (June-July), Devastating cyclone in Orissa and A. P. (Oct.) |
| 2000 | U. S. President Bill Clinton visited India (Mar.) INSAT-3 B launched from Kourou (Mar. 22), Successful test firing of 'Dhanush', the naval version of 'Prithvi' missile (Apr. 11), Karnam Malleshwari wins a bronze at Olympics, Chattisgarh formed (Nov. 1), Uttaranchal formed (Nov. 9), Jharkhand formed (Nov. 15) |
| 2001 | The pilotless target aircraft 'Lakshya' inducted into the Indian Air Force (Jan. 5), Severe earthquake in Gujarat (Ja. 26), the newly-constructed Ennore port dedicated to the nation (Feb. 1), India successfully launches GSLV D-1 from Sriharikota (Apr. 18), Indo-Pak summit at Agra (July 15-16), Lok Pal Bill introduced in Lok Sabha (Aug. 14), Attack on WTC, New York shakes the world (Sept. 11), Lok Sabha passes the bill on "Right to Education till 14" (Nov. 30),Terrorist attack on Indian Parliament (Dec. 13) |
| 2002 | INSAT-3 C launched on Ariane rocket from Kourou in French Guyana (Jan. 24), ISRO successfully tries the indegenious cryogenic engine (Feb. 5), POTO passed in the joint session of the Parliament (Mar. 26), LCA test flown successfully (June 6), Cabinet clears 26% FDI in print media (June 25), Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam elected the President of India (July 18), Bhairon Singh Shekhawat sworn in as Vice-President of India (Aug. 19), India launches METSAT by using PSLV-C4 (Sept. 12), Draft of the Tenth Five-Year Plan approved by the Planning Commission (Oct. 5), BSNL launches mobile phone service (Oct. 15), Vajpayee and Putin sign Delhi declaration (Dec. 4), Kelkar submitted modified report on tax reforms (Dec. 28) |
| 2003 | Kalpana Chawla killed in space shuttle Columbia burnup (Feb. 1); Large reserves of oil & gas discovered in Barmer district of Rajasthan (Feb. 4); US launched attack on Iraq (Mar. 20); INSAT-3A launched from Kourou (Apr. 10); Indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) renamed 'Tejas' (May 4); GSLVD-2 launched from Sriharikota (May 8); First instance of power failure in modern USA (Aug. 15-16); Mars comes closest to Earth (Aug. 27); Govt. approves the purchase of Advanced Jet Trainers, Hawk, from Britain (Sept. 3); INSAT-3E launched from Kourou (Sept. 20); Pope John Paul-ll beautifies Mother Teresa (Oct. 19); First Afro-Asian Games held in Hyderabad (Oct. 24-Nov. 1); India & Pakistan agree to a formal cease-fire along the LOG (Nov. 25); 97th, 98th, 99th & 100th Constitutional Amendment Bills passed (Dec. 18-23) |
| 2004 | Sensex crosses the magical figure of 6000 (Jan. 2); India signs agreement with Russia for obtaining Admiral Gorshkov (Jan. 20); Delhi High Court clears Rajiv Gandhi from the Bofors deal (Feb. 4); 200 killed in Madrid train blast (Mar. 11); Nobel Medals of Rabindra Nath Tagore gets stolen from Shantiniketan (Mar. 25); NDA conducts election before time, but loses unexpectedly, UPA government comes in power, Dr. Manmohan Singh sworn-in as the new PM (May 22); 87 children killed in a fire in school in Kumbhkonam, Tamil Nadu (July 17); Olympics return to their homeland Athens, Rajyavardhan Rathode wins a silver for India (Aug. 13-29); Hamid Karzai wins the Presidential vote in Afghanistan (Oct. 14); Sandalwood King Veerappan is dead (Oct. 18); George W. Bush re-elected (Nov. 3); Kanchi Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati arrested on murder charges (Nov. 11); Yasser Arafat is dead (Nov. 11); Parliament dismissses POTA (Dec. 9); Tsunami causes havoc in South and South East Asia killing more than a lakh (Dec. 26) |
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