History of India
Anatomically modern humans first arrived on the Indian subcontinent between 73,000
and 55,000 years ago. The earliest known human remains in South Asia date to 30,000
years ago. Sedentariness began in South Asia around 7000 BCE; by 4500 BCE, settled
life had spread, and gradually evolved into the Indus Valley Civilisation, one of three
early cradles of civilisation in the Old World, which flourished between 2500 BCE and
1900 BCE in present-day Pakistan and north-western India. Early in the second
millennium BCE, persistent drought caused the population of the Indus Valley to scatter
from large urban centres to villages. Indo-Aryan tribes moved into the Punjab from
Central Asia in several waves of migration. The Vedic Period of the Vedic people in
northern India (1500–500 BCE) was marked by the composition of their extensive
collections of hymns (Vedas). The social structure was loosely stratified via the varna
system, incorporated into the highly evolved present-day Jāti system. The pastoral and
nomadic Indo-Aryans spread from the Punjab into the Gangetic plain. Around 600 BCE,
a new, interregional culture arose; then, small chieftaincies (janapadas) were
consolidated into larger states (mahajanapadas). Second urbanization took place, which
came with the rise of new ascetic movements and religious concepts, including the rise
of Jainism and Buddhism. The latter was synthesized with the preexisting religious
cultures of the subcontinent, giving rise to Hinduism.
Timeline of Indian history
Chandragupta Maurya overthrew the Nanda Empire and established the first great
empire in ancient India, the Maurya Empire. India's Mauryan king Ashoka is widely
recognised for his historical acceptance of Buddhism and his attempts to spread
nonviolence and peace across his empire. The Maurya Empire would collapse in 185
BCE, on the assassination of the then-emperor Brihadratha by his general Pushyamitra
Shunga. Shunga would form the Shunga Empire in the north and north-east of the
subcontinent, while the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom would claim the north-west and found
the Indo-Greek Kingdom. Various parts of India were ruled by numerous dynasties,
Anatomically modern humans first arrived on the Indian subcontinent between 73,000
and 55,000 years ago. The earliest known human remains in South Asia date to 30,000
years ago. Sedentariness began in South Asia around 7000 BCE; by 4500 BCE, settled
life had spread, and gradually evolved into the Indus Valley Civilisation, one of three
early cradles of civilisation in the Old World, which flourished between 2500 BCE and
1900 BCE in present-day Pakistan and north-western India. Early in the second
millennium BCE, persistent drought caused the population of the Indus Valley to scatter
from large urban centres to villages. Indo-Aryan tribes moved into the Punjab from
Central Asia in several waves of migration. The Vedic Period of the Vedic people in
northern India (1500–500 BCE) was marked by the composition of their extensive
collections of hymns (Vedas). The social structure was loosely stratified via the varna
system, incorporated into the highly evolved present-day Jāti system. The pastoral and
nomadic Indo-Aryans spread from the Punjab into the Gangetic plain. Around 600 BCE,
a new, interregional culture arose; then, small chieftaincies (janapadas) were
consolidated into larger states (mahajanapadas). Second urbanization took place, which
came with the rise of new ascetic movements and religious concepts, including the rise
of Jainism and Buddhism. The latter was synthesized with the preexisting religious
cultures of the subcontinent, giving rise to Hinduism.
Timeline of Indian history
Chandragupta Maurya overthrew the Nanda Empire and established the first great
empire in ancient India, the Maurya Empire. India's Mauryan king Ashoka is widely
recognised for his historical acceptance of Buddhism and his attempts to spread
nonviolence and peace across his empire. The Maurya Empire would collapse in 185
BCE, on the assassination of the then-emperor Brihadratha by his general Pushyamitra
Shunga. Shunga would form the Shunga Empire in the north and north-east of the
subcontinent, while the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom would claim the north-west and found
the Indo-Greek Kingdom. Various parts of India were ruled by numerous dynasties,
