events-Indian subcontinent

Chronography of the Indian subcontinent

(Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka)

Page last modified 7/12/2021

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Mumbai urban growth maps

See also Myanmar

Bhutan� - see Appendix 2

Maldives � see Appendix 3

Nepal � see Appendix 4

Sri Lanka from 1947 � see Appendix 5

Bangladesh, India, Pakistan

15/6/2020, Tensions along the ill-defined and disputed Himalayan border between India and China escalated. India accused China of annexing the Galwan Valley, some 60 square miles. China accused India of building military roads into disputed areas and of attempting to control more of Kashmir, including an area ceded by Pakistan to China that India claims. Some 20 soldiers died, mainly through falling into icy gorges.

14/2/2019, Pakistani terrorists suicide-bombed Indian security forces in Kashmir, killing 45. Tensions briefly rose between the two countries, with Indian jets striking Pakistan and one being shot down. The pilot was later returned to India as tensions eased.

5/1/2016, Violent riots broke out in Kaliachak, West Bengal, India, after political activist Kamlesh Tiwari allegedly insulted the Muslim prophet Muhammad.

16/12/2014, Taliban gunmen scaled the wall of an army-run school in Peshawar, Pakistan, and began shooting indiscriminately. 141 schoolchildren were killed before the army regained control; many more had been injured. This was in revenge for Army attacks on the Taliban.

24/4/2013, A large garment factory in Rana Plaza in the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh, collapsed, killing 1,129 people.

16/2/2013, A bomb exploded at a marketplace in Quetta, Pakistan, killing over 80 people.

24/11/2012, A fire at a clothing factory in Bangladesh killed 112 people.

5/9/2011, India and Bangladesh signed a pact to end their 40-year border dispute.

26/11/2008, Pakistani Islamic terrorists struck at several targets in Mumbai, India, taking visitors at the Taj Mahal luxury hotel hostage.� Indian forces stormed the terrorists in the hotel. 183 people were killed and over 300 injured.

2007, India and Pakistan signed an agreement to prevent accidental nuclear war.

27/12/2007, The moderate Pakistani politician, Benazir Bhutto, was assassinated whilst participating in an opposition rally against the hard-line ruler, President Pervez Musharraf.

11/7/2006, Bombs exploded in Mumbai railway station, India. 200 were killed. Pakistani Islamic militants were suspected.

13/5/2004, In Indian elections, the traditional-Socialist Congress Party gained unexpected victory over the Hindu-Nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The majority of poorer Indians had failed to benefit from the economic modernisation programmes of the BJP. Manmohan Singh became Prime Minister.

16/3/2004, The Pakistan Army began an offensive against Afghan Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants in the NW border area of Pakistan. When the offensive ended on 30/3/2004, some 150 militants had been killed, but many had escaped through tunnels back to the Afghan border.

2/5/2003, India and Pakistan resumed diplomatic relations.

12/12/2002, In Indian State elections, the Hindu Nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) consolidated its political control of Gujarat.

8/5/2002, In Karachi a suicide car bomber blew himself up next to a bus, killing 14 people � 11 of them were French naval engineers working for the Pakistan navy.

27/2/2002, Muslims attacked a train in Gujarat, western India, carrying Hindi activists. Conflict between Hindus and Muslims had bene growing since the terrorist attack of 13/12/2001 on the Indian parliament.

13/12/2001, Terrorists attacked the Indian Parliament, killing 14 people.� This brought India and Pakistan to the brink of war.

8/10/2001. Anti-American riots in several Pakistani cities. Banks, a shopping mall, and cinemas showing American films, were burnt down. Pakistan was a vital access point for USA forces seeking to enter Afghanistan. Raids continue over the next few days, with anti-American protests in Pakistan and Indonesia.

24/1/2001, The greatest gathering of people ever recorded took place at Allahabad, India, where 20 million people gathered for the Maha Kumbh Mela.

2000, India�s population now exceeded one billion.

12/10.1999, General Pervez Musharraf (born 1943) took control of Pakistan in a military coup. Nawaz Sherif was deposed.

10/8/1999, A Pakistani plane intruding into Indian airspace was shot down.

11/7/1999, India recaptured the town of Kargil from Pakistan, after two months of conflict.

26/5/1999, Indian air force planes attacked Pakistani intruders in Kashmir, sparking the Kargil War.

India, Pakistan, nuclear missile tests

14/4/1999, Following the Indian test, Pakistan also carried out a successful test of its ballistic missile.

11/4/1999, India carried out a successful test of a ballistic missile.

30/5/1998, Pakistan conducted further nuclear tests.

28/5/1998, Pakistan test-exploded five nuclear devices in retaliation for India�s nuclear tests earlier in the month.� The US, Japan, and other nations imposed sanctions on Pakistan.

13/5/1998, The US and Japan imposed economic sanctions on India because of its nuclear test.

11/5/1998, India conducted a nuclear test in the Rajasthan Desert, its first such test since 1974.� Pakistan, which already had nuclear weapons, was angered.

28/11/1997, In India the Congress Party withdrew from the coalition, which then collapsed.

5/9/1997, Mother Teresa died in Kolkata (Calcutta), India, aged 87.

14/7/1997, In India KR Narayanan was elected President. He was the first President to come from the �untouchable� caste.

20/4/1997, In India the minority 13-Party United Front Government led by HD Deve Gowda fell when the Congress party withdrew support. A new United Front government was formed with Congress party backing under former Foreign Minister Kumar Gujral.

1995, In India, the Punjab Chief Minister was assassinated by Sikh extremists.

17/2/1997, The Pakistan Muslim league won general elections. Nawaz Sharif became prime Minister.

5/11/1996, The Pakistan President dismissed Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto after she and her Government were accused of corruption and mismanagement.

20/10/1993, Pakistan elected Benazir Bhutto (1953-2007) as Prime Minister.

12/3/1993, 257 people were killing in a bombing in Mumbai, India.

7/12/1992. Religious riots swept India after Hindu fanatics destroyed the Babri Masjid mosque. 1,200 people died in these riots.

6/12/1992. Riots followed a Hindu attack on the Ayodha Mosque, India. This mosque was built by the first Moghul Emperor Babur in the early 16th century; Hindus contended that it was built on top of a Hindu temple marking the birthplace of the Hindu god, Rama. India appeared to be abandoning its secular legacy in favour of a militant Hinduism.

18/11/1992, In Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto was put under house arrest after police broke up a political demonstration.

21/5/1991. Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated. Police blamed Tamil Tigers.

26/2/1991, In Bangladeshi general elections, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party won 139 of 300 seats in the Jatiyo Sangshad. BNP leader Khaleda Zia, widow of President Zia, became President of Bangladesh on 19/3/1991.

31/10/1990. In India, Hindu fundamentalists again attempted to storm the mosque at Ayodhya. Hindus wanted to demolish the mosque, claiming it stood on the site of the birthplace of one of their gods, Lord Rama. Over 8 days, 170 died in India in clashes over this mosque.

19/1/1990. Free love guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh died of a heart attack at his commune in Poona, India. Aged 58, he owned nearly 100 Rolls Royces, and was banned from nearly 20 countries; including the US where his commune in Oregon was closed down.

6/8/1990, Ghulam Ishaq Khan, President of Pakistan, removed the Government of Benazir Bhutto, charging her with corruption. Islamists, the landed aristocracy and other political opponents wanted her gone, and Benazir�s supporters allged that the charges were purely politically motivated.

2/12/1989, VP Singh, leader of the Janata Dat Party, replaced Rajiv Gandhi as Prime Minister of India, although Rajiv�s Congress Party remained the largest single party.

1/10/1989. Pakistan rejoined the Commonwealth after 17 years.

14/2/1989. Union Carbide agreed to pay US$ 470 million to the Indian Government in compensation for the 1984 Bhopal disaster.

31/12/1988, In the Pakistani capital Islamabad, the Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and his Pakistani counterpart Benazir Bhutto signed the first agreement between the two countries for 16 years.

8/12/1988, The new Pakistani Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto, released 1,000 political prisoners.

30/11/1988. Benazir Bhutto became the first woman Prime Minister of Pakistan; the first female leader of an Islamic country. These were the first democratic elections in Pakistan for 11 years. Her father, Zufilqar Ali Bhutto, was leader of Pakistan from 1971 until he was deposed in a military coup headed by General Zia in 1977; Zufilqar was hanged in 1979. Benazir inherited the leadership of the People�s Party and was an ongoing annoyance to the military regime until Zia died in 1987 in a plane crash.

17/8/1988, General Zia ul Haq of Pakistan died when his aircraft crashed shortly after taking off from a military demonstration of US tanks at Bahawalpur for Islamabad. The US ambassador to Pakistan was on board. A bomb or missile attack was suspected.

19/5/1988, In India, Sikh rebels occupying the Golden Temple in Amritsar surrendered.

4/1/1988, Indian Kami Bheel, who possessed the world�s longest moustache at 7ft 10 inches from tip to tip, was found decapitated.

1987, In Bangladesh, Ershad announced a State of Emergency as strikes and demonstrations paralysed the country.

12/5/1987, Rajiv Gandhi imposed direct Federal rule from New Delhi on the mainly Sikh province of Punjab, removing its provincial autonomy. The Sikhs in Punjab had wanted their own country, separate from India as Pakistan was, at Independence in 1947, but this did not happen. They have been agitating for independence ever since. Under Indira Gandhi�s rule (1966-84), which was nominally democratic but veered towards autocracy, especially in times of crisis, the Punjab was even subdivided by creating the new Province of Haryana, to weaken Punjab identity, and attacked the Sikhs at the Golden temple, Amritsar (see 6/6/1984). The Direct Rule was in revenge for the assassination of his mother, Indira Gandhi on 31/10/1984. The immediate cause of Rajiv Gandhi�s move was the assassination of Sant Harchand Singh Longowal, a Sikh politician who had collaborated closely with both Indira and Rajiv, by militant Sikh separatists. Sikh Separatism in the Punjab remains a major issue in Indian politics.

10/11/1986, President Ershad announced an end to martial law in Bangladesh

14/8/1986. In Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto was jailed by General Zia.

9/5/1986, Tenzing Norgay, or Tensing, the first joint conqueror of Everest, died.

22/1/1986, In India, three Sikhs were sentenced to death for the murder of Indira Gandhi.

30/12/1985, In Pakistan, General Zia ended martial law.

31/12/1984, Rajiv Gandhi became Prime Minister of India.

19/12/1984. Rajiv Ghandhi won the Indian elections by a large majority.

3/12/1984. The Union Carbide disaster at Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh State, India. 410 died immediately as 30 tons of poison gas (methyl isocyanate) leaked; the final toll was 4,000 dead and 20,000 seriously injured; 150,000 required hospital treatment.

3/11/1984, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was cremated.

1/11/1984, Rajiv Gandhi, son of Indira, was sworn in as Indian Prime Minister

31/10/1984 �Mrs Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India, 67, was shot dead by a Sikh member of her bodyguard, whilst in New Delhi. Beant Singh, one of the attackers, was then shot dead by other loyal bodyguards. She was succeeded by her son, Rajiv Gandhi. Indira Gandhi was cremated on 3/11/1984. The assassination was in revenge for Indian troops storming the Golden Temple of Amritsar.

29/6/1984, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi dismissed the Governor and the Police Chief of Punjab.

6/6/1984. Indian troops stormed the Sikh Golden Temple in Amritsar. 712 Sikhs and 90 soldiers were killed.

5/4/1984, India imposed detention without trial in Pinjab.

3/4/1984, India declared Punjab a �dangerously disturbed area�.

13/4/1984, India captured most of the Siachen glacier on its disputed Kashmir frontier with Pakistan.

10/1/1984, General Zia of Pakistan freed Benazir Bhutto, daughter of former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who had been executed in 1979.

6/10/1983, The Indian Government took over direct control of Punjab Province in response to growing unrest there.

24/3/1982, Military coup in Bangladesh. Ershad took power.

30/5/1981, President Ziaur Rahman of Bangladesh (born 1936) was assassinated. Abdus Sattar took power.

22/6/1980, 1,000 died in ethnic violence in Tripura, India.

6/1/1980. In India, Indira Ghandhi was re-elected as Prime Minister.

10/12/1979, Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her work helping the destitute in India. Born in Albania in 1910, she joined a convent at age 18 and taught in the convent�s Calcutta premises. In 1946 she began working the streets of Calcutta to relieve poverty.

15/7/1979, Moraji Desai resigned as Indian Prime Minister. On 28/7/1979 Charan Singh became Indian Prime Minister.

4/4/1979. There were demonstrations in Pakistan as ex-Prime Minister Ali Bhutto was hanged.� He was accused of conspiring to murder a political opponent.� See 18/3/1978.

19/2/1979, In Bangladesh, Zia ur Rahman�s Bangladesh Nationalist Party won the elections.

10/2/1979, General Zia, ruler of Pakistan, introduced Islamic Shia law.

6/2/1979. Pakistan�s Supreme Court ruled that the former Prime Minister, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, should be hanged for conspiring to murder an opponent. He was hanged in Rawalpindi on 4/4/1979, despite pleas from world leaders.

7/11/1978, Indira Gandhi was re-elected to the Indian Parliament.

16/9/1978. Zia ul Haq became Head of State in Pakistan, succeeding President Chaudry.

8/7/1978, Two German mountaineers, Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeller, made the first ascent of Everest without oxygen.

18/3/1978. Former Pakistani PM, Zufilkar Ali Bhutto, was sentenced to death for ordering the murder of a political opponent in 1974, see 5/7/1977 and 4/4/1979.

3/1/1978. Ex-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was expelled from her Congress Party.

3/9/1977, In Pakistan, Bhutto was arrested on charges of conspiring to murder Ahmad Kasuri in 1974.

5/7/1977. In Pakistan, President Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the first democratically elected President of Pakistan, was overthrown, and then arrested, in a military coup by Zia, after rioting following accusations of vote rigging by Bhutto.� Bhutto was later arrested and charged with treason, see 18/3/1978.

22/3/1977, Indira Gandhi resigned as President of India after an election defeat.

11/3/1977, Widespread violent protests in Pakistan, amid claims that Mrs Bhutto�s election victory was fraudulent.

7/3/1977. Bhutto won the Pakistani general elections. However opposition to her had been so widespread that vote-rigging was suspected, and the Pakistani Army stepped in, led by Zia Ul Haq.

1976, In Bangladesh, trades unions were banned.

22/7/1976, Relations between India and Pakistan improved. This day the first through train ran from Delhi to Lahore.

16/4/1976. India, to curb population growth, raised the minimum age for marriage to 21 for men and 18 for women.

24/9/1975. The south-west face of Everest was climbed for the first time by Douglas Haston and Doug Scott.

15/8/1975. In a military coup in Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rhaman was overthrown; he and his family were murdered.

30/6/1975, In India, Indira Gandhi imposed press censorship, to suppress dissent.

11/6/1975, The High Court in India ruled that Indira Gandhi had used unfair practices to win the election and must stand down. She refused to go.

18/5/1974, India announced that it had successfully underground-tested an atom bomb.

16/5/1975, India annexed Sikkim.

16/4/1975, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Indian statesman, died aged 86.

6/3/1975, Large demonstrations in New Delhi against Indira Gandhi.

11/11/1974, In Pakistan, Ahmad Kasuri, an outspoken critic of President Zufilkar al Bhutto, was assassinated by members of Bhutto�s security forces.

19/3/1974, Food riots in Bihar, India.

1973, Prime Minister Bhutto of Pakistan initiated �Islamic Socialism�.

7/11/1973, Pakistan formally left SEATO.

20/10/1973, The Dalai Lama first visited Britain.

8/4/1973. Indian troops annexed Sikkim in the Himalayas.

13/3/1972, The Congress Party, led by Indira Gandhi, won Indian elections

11/12/1972, India and Pakistan agreed on a� truce line in Jammu and Kashmir.

2/7/1972, India and Pakistan agreed to renounce the use of force in settling disputes.

18/4/1972. Pakistan became a member of the Commonwealth again. See 30/1/1972.

Secession of East Pakistan, 1958 � 74

22/2/1974. Pakistan recognised Bangladesh.

25/8/1972, China vetoed the admission of Bangladesh to the UN.

17/4/1972, Bangladesh formally seceded from Pakistan.� See 26/3/1971.

19/3/1972. Bangladesh signed a treaty of friendship with India.

30/1/1972. Pakistan, under Zulfiqar Bhutto, withdrew from the Commonwealth, after Britain, Australia, and New Zealand recognised the independence of Bangladesh. See 18/4/1972.

12/1/1972, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was sworn in as Prime Minister of Bangladesh.

10/1/1972, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman returned to a heroes welcome in Dacca, Bangladesh.

22/12/1971, Mujibur Rahman was released from prison in West Pakistan, to become President of Bangladesh.

20/12/1971. In Pakistan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto became President in place of Yahya Khan.

18/12/1971, Bangladesh formally came into existence after East Pakistan surrendered in the war with India.

16/12/1971. All eastern Pakistani troops surrendered to India.

9/12/1971, Indian planes bombed an orphanage in Dacca, East Pakistan, killing 300 children.

8/12/1971. Indian troops advanced to within 30 miles of Dacca, East Pakistan.

6/12/1971. India recognised Bangladesh as an independent republic.�

3/12/1971. India was on a war footing with fighting on its western border with Pakistan. Yahya Khan knew he could not defend secessionist East Pakistan against India; India and Pakistan were hostile, and it was in India�s interests to see Bangladesh secede from Pakistan. Yahya Khan therefore tried to seize the initiative by attacking India from West Pakistan, hoping that a favourable outcome for Pakistan would force India to accept Pakistan�s terms in the East. On this day Pakistan launched air strikes into India. India responded decisively, completely overrunning East Pakistan� The Pakistani offensive in the West petered out.

31/5/1971, India requested international aid to cope with the millions of refugees from the war in East Pakistan.

26/3/1971 The Pakistan Army easily overcame East Pakistani resistance by end-April. Assisted by Islamic fundamentalist groups, the Army then massacred all those deemed in favour of independence,� including Awami league members, Hindus (about 10% of the population), also students and intellectuals, including teachers, lecturers and doctors. Between one and three million people weer massacred; a further ten million fled to India. Many more died in the makeshift refugee camps. Bangladesh could only attain independence win Indian intervention,which did occur later in 1971.

25/3/1971, Yahya Khan, leader of Pakistan, announced a �restore law and order� campaign in East Pakistan (see 23/3/1971). Members of the Awami League were arrested.

23/3/1971. Bangladesh (meaning �The Bengal Nation�), formerly East Pakistan, proclaimed its independence under Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. This started a civil war on 26/3/1971 between Pakistan and East Pakistan, or Bangladesh, in which India intervened on to help Bangladesh become independent. India helped defeat Pakistan on 17/12/1971. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was reported killed on 28/3/1970 and 7,000 people killed in the uprising against the government in West Pakistan.� See 17/4/1972. West Pakistani troops killed anyone deemed �Bengali�, even teenage boys, as well as any Hindus they came across; rape was also widespread. The USA had been a close ally of Pakistan, to counter the Soviet-India axis, and was now embarrassed to see its arms being used to massacre Bengalis. In rural areas of East Pakistan Awami supporters used local knowledge to outflank Pakistani troops, forcing them back into the cities; the troops and their supporters were massacred as brutally as the Bengalis had been. Meanwhile India faced a major refugee crisis as ten million Bengalis fled into the country.

7/3/1971, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, political leader of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), delivered his famous speech in the Racecourse Field in Dhaka, calling on the masses to be prepared to fight for national independence.

7/12/1970, In the Pakistani elections, the Awami League (inevitably) won 160 of the 162 seats reserved for Eastern candidates (see 23/9/1969). In the west of the country, Benazhir Bhutto did well, gaining 81 of the remaining 138 seats, but this still left the Awami League as clear election winner. Bhutto, backed by Yahya Khan, immediately announced that he would not countenance implementation of the Awami �Six Point� plan. Rahman responded by proposing that he govern East Pakistan whilst Bhutto governed the West; a proposal tantamount to secession. Rejection of Rahman�s proposal precipitated widespread rioting across East Pakistan. In early March 1971 Yahya Khan announced an indefinite postponement of the convening of the newly-elected National Assembly and appointed General Tikka Khan as Military Governor of East Pakistan. Mujib responded by calling on his supporters to turn Pakistan�s Republic Day (23 March) into �Resistance Day�.

13/11/1970. In Bangladesh (East Pakistan) a cyclone and tidal waves killed over 500,000 people. Yahya Khan�s response was seen by East Bengalis as grossly inadequate. Only one military transport plane and three small aircraft were mobilised by Khan, leaving Bengalis more dependent on aid from Britain. Western aid arrived faster than aid from West Pakistan.

25/3/1969, Amidst increasing separatist tension in East Pakistan, Ayub resigned, handing power to General Yahya Khan. Khan promised elections for 7/12/1970, and that 162 of the 300 seats in the National Assembly would be reserved for East Bengalis. Given the popularity of the Awami League in East Pakistan, this appeared to invite further problems of governance.

1/1968, A general strike in East Pakistan, encouraged by Rahman, Subsequently, Rahman was arested and opposition tension increased.

1966, Rahman launched his �Six Points� demands, which effectively meant almost complete autonomy for East Pakistan, except in the fields of foreign policy and defence. Even more alarmingly for Karachi, Rahman appeared to be demanding this devolution not just for the East but for �wherever [Pakistan] was divided ethnically or religiously�. This might have meant the breakup of West Pakistan, leaving the east as the largest singe unit.

7/6/1966, Demonstrations in East Pakistan, demanding greater autonomy.

1963, In East Pakistan, the Awami League chairman, Huseyn Suhrawady, died. This opened the way for the militant separatist, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, to become leader of the Aawami league. Rahman argued that economic growth due to the efforts of Easterners was benefitting West Pakistan alone/ It was true that Bengal was much poorer than West Pakistan and that foreign aid received by Karachi was spent mainly in West Pakistan. Rahman sturred up separatist sentiments in the East by continually referring to it as a �colony� of Karachi.

10/1958, East Pakistan was becoming more rebellious against the economic and political domination of (smaller) West Pakistan. In response to this unrest, the Governor-General of East Pakistan, Iskander Mirza, placed the half-country under military rule and appointed General Mohammed Ayub Khan as Prime Minister. Ayub Khan promptly exiled Mirza to London � effectively a military coup. Martial law in East Pakistan continued until 1962, during which time Ayub Khan replaced civilians in key government posts with senior military figures; the administration became highly centralised. Excluded from legitimate political participation, opposition parties became foci for discontent; the Awami League became the central locus for this discontent. Ayub Khan made efforts to placate Easterners, reserving half his Cabinet for them and making Dacca the �second capital� of Pakistan; these measures were seen as tokenism and only intensified separatist ambitions,

1969, The Swat region became fully incorporated into Pakistan. A valley kingdom in the Hindu Kush mountains, half the size of Wales, it remained an independent feudal state with its own monarch long after Pakistan was officially created in 1947.

17/9/1969, A week of violence between Hindus and Muslims broke out in Gujarat.

1967, The Mangla Dam on the Jhelum River was completed. This was the first part of a World Bank scheme to improve irrigation and agriculture in Pakistan.

8/7/1967, Fatima Jinnah, Pakistani politician, died.

(15)5/1967, In the village of Naxalbari, West Bengal, peasants rebelled against landowners. This was the start of the Maoist rebel Naxalite movement in eastern India.

12/3/1967. Mrs Gandhi re-elected Prime Minister of India.

1966, The planned city of Chandigarh was built. Designed by le Corbusier, it was to be the capital of Haryana and Punjab.

6/3/1966, Food riots in West Bengal, India, spreading to Kolkata and Delhi.

19/1/1966. Indira Gandhi (no relation to Mahatma Gandhi) became Prime Minister of India. She succeeded her father Jawaharlal Nehru. She had been leader of the National Congress Party since 1959.

22/9/1965. India and Pakistan halted fighting in Kashmir.

6/9/1965. India invaded West Pakistan. A three-pronged attack threatened the Pakistani city of Lahore. Pakistan parachuted troops in behind Indian lines. The conflict in Kashmir escalated.

1/9/1965. Pakistani troops crossed into Kashmir over the cease-fire line.

30/6/1965, India and Pakistan agreed a ceasefire.

9/4/1965. Border clashes between India and Pakistan.

25/3/1965, In elections in Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Mrs Srimavo Bandaranaike lost to Dudley Senanayake.

2/1/1965, In Pakistani presidential elections, President Ayub Khan gained a clear majority over Miss Fatimah Jinnah.

30/12/1964. 500 were arrested in India on suspicion of spying for China.

27/5/1964 The Indian statesman 'Pandit' Nehru died, aged 74, having been the first Prime Minister of India since independence in 1947. He was succeeded by Lal Shastri.

22/3/1964. Anti-Muslim violence broke out in India.

13/1/1964. In Calcutta, 200 died in Muslim-Hindu riots.

29/8/1963, Gulzarilal Nanda replaced Lal Bahadur Shastri as Indian Minister for Home Affairs.

27/12/1962, India and Pakistan reopened talks on Kashmir,

27/11/1962, Britain agreed to supply arms to India in case of further Chinese military action.

21/11/1962, Ceasefire in the India-China border dispute.

2/11/1962, The US pledged to send arms to India in its dispute with China.

20/10/1962, Chinese troops attacked Indian border positions.

8/9/1962. China-India border dispute escalated. China crossed the 14,000 ft high Tangla Ridge and attacked Indian border posts on 20/10/1962. On 28/10/1962 the USA pledged to send arms to India.

19/12/1961. India annexed Goa from the Portuguese, after 400 years of Portuguese rule.

1960, The State of Bombay was divided into the States of Gujarat and Maharashtra.

14/2/1960, Muhammad Ayub Khan was elected President of Pakistan.

1959, The first newsprint mill was established in the Sundarbans region of East Pakistan (Bangladesh) to exploit the forest resources there.

29/12/1959, Durgapur steel works, West Bengal, officially opened.

23/12/1959, The Earl of Halifax, politician and Viceroy of India, 1926-31, died.

1950s unrest in Pakistan, and move towards Islam

7/10/1958, Following unrest in Pakistan, President Iskander Mirza proclaimed martial law and suspended the Constitution.

23/3/1956, Pakistan became an independent Islamic republic within the Commonwealth

29/2/1956. Pakistan was declared an Islamic Republic.

14/10/1955, Baluchistan formally became part of West Pakistan

23/9/1955, Pakistan joined the Baghdad pact.

27/3/1955, Pakistan declared a State of Emergency.

2/11/1953, Pakistan announced it was to adopt Sharia law.

8/1/1953, Riots in Karachi, Pakistan, followed by unrest in other cities, due to adverse economic conditions.

16/10/1951, Liaquat Ali Khan, Prime Minister of Pakistan, was assassinated by an Afghan fanatic; civil disorder ensued.

13/5/1957, India�s second election since independence continued the administration of Nehru�s Congress Party; however in the southern State of Kerala a Communist administration was elected.

31/3/1957, India continued its modernisation programme under Nehru with the introduction of a decimal currency. Nine days earlier the country had adopted a standard calendar.

Kashmir

26/1/1957, Kashmir joined India, under �special status� agreements, providing for example that non-Kashmiri Indians could not buy property there. Pakistan protested.

17/11/1956, Kashmir voted to become part of India.

3/7/1951, India lodged a complaint with the UN Security Council over Pakistani violations of the ceasefire in Kashmir.

1956. India passed the States Reorganisation Act. State boundaries were to be redrawn according to ethno-linguistic lines, with some divided, and new States carved out.

1955, King Tribhuvan of Nepal died (reigned from 1951). He was succeeded by his son, King Mahendra.

15/8/1955. India attempted to take over Goa.

Himalayan expeditions

25/5/1955, A British expedition, led by Charles Evans, became the first to climb Kangchenjunga, the third highest peak in the Himalayas.

31/7/1954, K2, or Godwin Austen Mountain, in the Himalayas, was climbed for the first time.

31/12/1953, A British expedition arrived in India to search for the abominable snowman.

29/5/1953. The New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary, and the Sherpa, Tensing, became the first two climbers to ascend to the 29,028 foot summit of Mount Everest. They spent 15 minutes at the summit, taking photographs and eating mint cake before leaving the Union Jack, the Nepalese Flag, and the United Nations Flag at the summit. The news reached London on Coronation Day, 2/6/1953.

Sir Hillary headed the New Zealand Antarctic Expedition and reached the South Pole in 1957. In the 60s he set up a hospital for Sherpa tribesmen in Nepal. In 1974 his wife and daughter were killed in a plane crash. He remarried in 1989 and his son climbed Everest in 1990.

10/7/1954, US President Eisenhower signed Public Law 480, the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954, better known as PL-480. This facilitated the export of grain to US-aligned governments that were facing threats from Leftist agencies, either internal rebels or intimidation from a Soviet-aligned State next door. PL-480 could be used to keep recalcitrant allies, those possibly sliding towards Communism, in line. For example in 1965 US President Johnson shifted the renewal of PL-480 food aid to India from an annual to a� monthly basis, threatening India with withdrawal of food aid as India�s President Shastri expressed disapproval of US bombing in Vietnam. However if Shastri abandoned Nehru�s ideas of land distribution to Indian peasants then India would receive US agricultural technology, enhancing food yields.

21/6/1953, Benazir Bhutto, Prime Minister of Pakistan, was born in Karachi.

8/12/1951, Jawaharlal Nehru, first Prime Minister of India, began his first 5-year Plan. Energy and Agricultire were to be prioritised in this Plan. Each successive Plan would target the sectors of the Indian economy that most needed improving. This tactic helped India�s economy advance rapidly.

3/6/1951, In India, the Socialist Party organised a large protest against the government�s food and housing policies.

3/6/1950, The Himalayan Peak of Annapurna was first climbed, by Herzog and Lachenal, members of a French expedition.

8/4/1950, India and Pakistan signed the Delhi Pact, each nation committing itself to protecting the rights of minorities within their borders.

26/1/1950, India became a democratic republic within the Commonwealth.

1949, The New Awami League demended more autonomy for East Bengal.

15/11/1949, In India, Nathuram Godse was hanged for the murder of Gandhi.

7/3/1949, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Indian politician, was born.

1/1/1949. India and Pakistan agreed a truce in the war over Kashmir.

4/11/1948, The new Indian Constitution was formally introduced to the Constituent Assembly.

13/9/1948, Nehru sent Indian troops to occupy the State of Hyderabad, whose ruler, the Nizam, had declined to join India. An appeal by the Nizam to the United Nations was in vain. The Nizam was allowed to keep his palaces and other private property.

11/9/1948, Death of Muhammed Ali Jinnah, first Governor-General of Pakistan.

28/2/1948. Last British troops left India.

12/2/1948, The ashes of Mahatma Gandhi were placed in the �holy waters� of the River Ganges at Allahabad.

30/1/1948. The Indian leader Mahatma (= �Great Soul) or Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was assassinated by a Hindu fanatic. Gandhi had been at a prayer meeting when he was shot by Nathuram Godse, a fanatic who totally rejected Gandhi's message of goodwill, peace, and love.� Some extremist Hindus saw that India could never become a Hindu-dominated state whilst Gandhi was still alive; Gandhi had preached tolerance between Hindus and Moslems.. Nathuram Godse was hanged on 15/11/1949. A previous attempt on Gandhi�s life had been made on 20/1/1948.

13/1/1948, Mahatma Gandhi began a six-day fast, in order to promote harmony between Muslims and Hindus.

2/1/1948, Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru threatened to invade Pakistan to stop Muslim attacks in Kashmir.

1947, Indian Independence from Britain; religious, ethnic, conflicts ensued

30/12/1947. The Kashmir problem went before the UN.

26/10/1947. Kashmir joined India despite Pakistani protests.

28/9/1947, Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of Bangladesh from 2009, was born in Tungipara, East Pakistan

24/9/1947. 1,200 Muslims fleeing India for Pakistan on a train were massacred by Sikhs at Amritsar in the Punjab.

15/8/1947. India became independent; the Union Jack was run down for the last time in New Delhi. Pandit Nehru was the first Indian Prime Minister.� Ali Khan became first PM of the newly created Pakistan.� See 4/6/1947 for more details.

14/8/1947, Pakistan became independent from Britain.

4/6/1947. The last British viceroy to India, Lord Mountbatten, announced that plans for Indian independence from Britain would be speeded up and completed in just 70 days, not the 12 months previously envisaged (see 20/2/1947). Britain was deep in economic crisis and wanted to shed Empire as fast as possible. As a result of this haste, the subcontinent was hacked crudely into three states, and following this a million people were massacred and one of the greatest forced migrations in history began as Muslims fled India and Hindus fled East and West. Pakistan. This was the start of the Kashmir problem. The Maharajah of Kashmir was faced with a choice of joining Pakistan, effectively ending his own rule, or of joining India with his mainly Muslim population. On Independence Day, 15/8/1947, Kashmir had still not decided who to join. In October 1947 Afghan tribesmen, backed by Pakistan, began invading Kashmir from Pakistan and in response India sent tens of thousands of troops to repel them, one day after the Maharajah had decided to join India. Had Britain not pulled out of India in such haste, more orderly arrangements for Kashmir could have been set up whilst Britain was still in a position to enforce them.

29/5/1947. The Indian Parliament banned 'untouchables'.

23/5/1947, Britain agreed to the partition of India.� Muslims wanted a separate state (Pakistan), fearing they would be subsumed in a Hindi India.

23/3/1947, Lord Wavell resigned as Viceroy of India. He was succeeded by Lord Mountbatten, who announced, after consultation with local leaders, that the Muslim-dominated areas must become a separate State.

20/2/1947, Lord Louis Mountbatten was appointed the last Viceroy of India, the same day the British government announced that the British would leave India by June 1948. See 4/6/1947. Mountbatten was to supervise the peaceful transition to independence of India, despite major difference between Hindus and Muslims. Winston Churchill opposed Indian independence.

9/12/1946, In India the Constituent Assembly met to discuss independence; but it was boycotted by the Muslim League.

19/8/1946, Violence in Calcutta between Hindus and Moslems, thousands were killed.

16/8/1946, Major riots against the British salt tax began in Calcutta, inspired by Gandhi�s campaign of disobedience.� The riots lasted till 20/8/1946.

21/2/1946, Indian naval mutiny at Bombay.

19/9/1945. Clement Attlee, UK Prime Minister, promised India will have independence.

20/8/1944, Rajiv Gandhi, younger son of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, was born.

1/3/1943. Gandhi broke his fast after 12 days.

9/8/1942. With Gandhi about to launch a major civil disobedience campaign to force the British out of India, the British arrested the whole Congress leadership, including Nehru.

5/1942, The British Government sent a special envoy, Sir Stafford Cripps, to India. In an effort to win over the nationalists, he promised India Dominion status after the War, that is, self-government but continued membership of the Commonwealth. There would also be an election for an indigenous assembly to draft an Indian Constitution � the Cripps Proposal. However this spurred nationalist leaders such as Gandhi and Nehru to step up their efforts for total independence.

15/1/1942. Gandhi named Nehru as his successor.

1941, In what is now Pakistan, the Jaamat e Islami Party (Islamic Group) was founded by the Leninist writer Maulana Abu Ala Maududi (died 9/1979).

23/3/1940. At the Moslem League conference in India, the Moslems there called for their own separate state within India.

8/2/1936, Jawaharlal Nehru was elected President of the India National Congress.

6/7/1935, The Dalai Lama was born.

11/2/1935, The UK Government passed the 1935 Government of India Act, giving the colony of India more autonomy; Britain retained control of external affairs and defence.

24/10/1934. Gandhi left the Congress Party.

7/4/1934. Gandhi suspended his campaign of civil disobedience.

23/8/1933. Gandhi was released from Poona jail after his hunger strike over the government�s attitude to Untouchables nearly killed him.

4/7/1933. Gandhi was jailed for a year for anti-British activity.

16/5/1932. Clashes between Hindus and Muslims killed hundreds in Bombay.

4/1/1932. Gandhi was arrested in India as the Congress party was outlawed.

4/11/1931, Indian campaigner Mahatma Gandhi, in London for the Round Table Conference on Dominion Status for India, had tea with King George V at Buckingham Palace.

29/8/1931, The Indian nationalist leader Mohandas Gandhi came to London, to attend the second Round Table Conference at St James Palace.

3/3/1931. The Viceroy of India agreed to withdraw the salt tax.

16/2/1931, The Indian Viceroy received Gandhi.

10/2/1931, New Delhi was officially inaugurated.

1/2/1931. Gandhi continued his campaign of civil disobedience.

26/1/1931. Winston Churchill resigned from Baldwin�s shadow cabinet after disagreements over the policy of conciliation with Indian nationalism; Churchill opposed any hint of independence for India. In India, Mahatma Gandhi was released from prison, for talks with the government.

12/11/1930. The British colony of India demanded Dominion status.

5/5/1930. In India, Gandhi was arrested. Civil disturbances continued. A young Punjabi terrorist, Bhagat Singh, had been executed for shooting a British police officer. The Sikh majority in Punjab protested and called for demonstrations and strikes as a sign of mourning for Bhagat Singh. In Cawnpore the shopkeepers were mainly Muslim and refused to close their shops. Angry mobs of Sikhs attacked and burnt any shops they found open, massacring the shopkeepers and their families. Muslims fought back and violence continued in Cawnpore for several days. It was in Cawnpore that, eighty years earlier, hundreds of British civilians had been murdered in the Indian Mutiny. Gandhi tried to intervene to restore peace but was assaulted by the crowd. The British forcibly restored order with many troops and police but discontent remained.

16/4/1930, Rioting in India; police fired on the crowds.

6/4/1930. Mahatma Gandhi reached the Indian coast after a 300 mile walk from his ashram near Ahmedabad, taking 25 days. Thousands followed him, and prepared to defy the British salt tax. To India�s millions of nationalists, the salt tax of 1 rupee per 82 pounds is an effective poll tax, burdening the poorest, and a symbol of foreign oppression. At 5.30 in the morning, Gandhi walked down to the sea and picked up a piece of crystallised sea salt, so effectively breaking the salt laws.� His followers did� likewise. They had wanted to work the mudflats, covered with salt after each high tide, but the police forestalled them by stirring the salt into the mud.

8/3/1930. Mahatma Gandhi started a civil disobedience campaign in India.

3/2/1930, The first ever �untouchables� were elected to local councils in India.

26/1/1930, A mock "Independence Day" was observed in India on the opening day of a civil disobedience campaign. British police were out in full force as rioting was expected, but apart from one incident in which Communist mill workers disrupted a gathering in Mumbai the day was peaceful.

2/1/1930, The All-India National Congress called for �complete independence�.

22/12/1929. The All-India National Congress demanded Indian independence.

7/12/1929, Agha Khan III was married at a private ceremony in Aix les Bains, France, to a former candy store clerk and dressmaker. He was founder and first President of the all-India Muslim League.

28/9/1929, In India, marriage of girls aged under 14 was banned by the Sarda Act.

5/5/1929. In Bombay a curfew was imposed to quell Hindu-Moslem fighting.

17/11/1928, Lala Rajpat Raj, Indian politician, died.

1/9/1926, Adbur Rahman Biswas, President of Bangladesh, was born.

2/4/1926. In India, riots broke out between Hindus and Moslems. On 4/4/1926 martial law was declared in Calcutta.

24/3/1925, Quazi Nuruzzaman, Bangladeshi guerrilla commander, was born (died 2011)

18/9/1924. Mohandas Gandhi, serving 6 years in prison for sedition, began a 21-day hunger strike, to try and dissuade Hindus and Moslems from rioting.

11/7/1924. Hindus and Muslims rioted in Delhi.

8/6/1924. George Mallory, on his third attempt to conquer Everest, was seen for the last time at a point 800 feet from the summit.

12/6/1922, The Mallory expedition succeeded in getting within 3,200 feet of the summit of Everest.

18/3/1922. Gandhi was jailed for 6 years for civil disobedience.

11/3/1922, Ghandi was arrested at Ahmedabad.

25/12/1921, Gandhi organised a successful mass boycott of the Prince of Wales as he arrived in Calcutta.

10/10/1921, Ghandi set fire to a large pile of foreign-made clothing in Mumbai.

28/7/1921, The All-India Congress Party voted to boycott a visit to India by the Prince of Wales, and also urged a boycott of imported cloth.

3/1/1921, India's first parliament met.

10/9/1920, The Indian National Congress voted to adopt Mahatma Gandhi�s policy of non-co-operation with Britain�s colonial administration.

1/8/1920, Gandhi began his campaign of resistance to British rule in India.

Further unrest in Brittish colonial India; Amritsar Massacre

13/4/1919. The British fired on and massacred Indian Nationalist rioters in Amritsar, Punjab. A British officer, General Dyer, panicked and ordered his troops to fire at point-blank range into a large crowd. 380 of Gandhi�s followers were killed and over 1200 injured. This massacre turned even moderate Indians against the British. The army had been called in by the police after several days of rioting against new security laws, in which some Europeans had been killed. Following the rioting and massacre, martial law was proclaimed in Amritsar and the infamous �crawling order� was imposed, requiring Indians to crawl when passing the site of the attack on Mrs Sherwood. Meanwhile General Dyer was relieved of his command and sent home on sick leave. A further affront to the Indians was how upper class opinion in Britain rallied behind General Dyer.

10/4/1919, Rioting by Sikhs began at Amritsar, see 13/4/1919. A hartal had been proclaimed whoich passed off peacefully but the British then arrested and deported two nationalist leaders. This provoked the rioting, during which five Europeans were killed, two banks burned down and an English missionary, Mrs Sherwood, was attacked and left for dead. In fact she was taken in and cared for by an Indian family.

3/1919, Faced with mounting unrest against British rule, the Indian Government passed the Rowlatt Bills. These gave provinvial Governors the right to detain without trial and provided for trial without jury in political cases. The Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi urged peaceful resistance such as the hartal, effecrtively a one-say general strike and day of fasting.

9/1/1919, Major mill strike began in Mumbai, with 100,000 workers out on strike.

10/9/1918, Muslim riots in Calcutta (Kolkata), India.

19/3/1915, The Defence of India Act was passed, giving the colonial government in British India powers to enforce criminal law, to curb nationalist and revolutionary activities in the country during and after World War I.

19/11/1917. Indira Gandhi born in Allahabad.� India�s first woman Prime Minister, she was the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru.

8/6/1915, Kayyar Kinhanna Rai, Indian poet, known for his poems and activism work for an independent India, was born in Kayyar, India (died 2015).

13/3/1914, Saroj Dutta, Indian Communist Leader, active in the Naxalite movement in India, was born (died 1971).

6/11/1913, Mahatma Gandhi, leader of the Indian Passive Resistance Mobement, was arrested.

12/12/1911, King George V was crowned Emperor of India, and founded the city of New Delhi, as new capital to replace Calcutta.

11/11/1911. The British King and Queen left Britain for the sea voyage to India. On 12/12/1911 there was a splendid ceremony at the Delhi Durbar, at which it was announced that henceforth Delhi would be the capital of India in place of Calcutta.

27/8/1910. Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who dedicated her life to the relief of the poor in India, was born in Skopje (Yugoslavia), of Albanian parents.

22/6/1910, John Hunt, leader of the successful expedition to climb Everest in 1953, was born.

10/6/1910, Sir Charles Hardinge, British Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs, was appointed as the Viceroy of India, succeeding the Earl of Minto.

Increasing unrest in British colonial India

23/12/1912, Lord Hardinge, Governor-General of India, was seriously injured in a bomb explosion.

11/1/1911, 18 killed in riots in Bombay, India.

13/11/1909, Two bombs were thrown at the Viceroy of India, The Earl of Minto.

1/7/1909, Indian terrorist assassinated Anglo-Indian Sir Curzon Wylie.

5/1/1909. Hindus and Moslems rioted in Calcutta.

24/3/1908, John Colvin, Governor of the North-West Provinces of India, died.

26/12/1907, The first session of the Indian National Congress was halted after clashes between moderates and extremists.

4/10/1907, Riots in India were blamed on a visit by UK MP Kier Hardie to the colony

6/6/1907. The British Government said it would never leave India.

14/5/1907, Muhammad Ayub Khan, President of Pakistan, was born (died 1974).

2/5/1907, Rioting in Rawalpindi and East Bengal, India.

30/12/1906, In India the Muslim League was founded, to call for separate Muslim areas and counter the Pan-Indian ideals of the Indian National Congress. The separate Muslim electoral areas were delivered under the Indian Councils Act of 1909. Ultimately this paved the way for the Partition of India in 1947.

20/7/1903, The UK Government announced it was to send large numbers of troops to India.

1/1/1903, King George VII was proclaimed Emperor of India.

1901, Dabadhai Naoroji published his book, Poverty and Un-British Rule in India, arguing that high taxation and exploitation of resources was damaging the Indian economy. This work inspired Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru.

1/10/1901, Partap Singh Kairon, India politician and Chief Minister of the Punjab from 1956 to 1964, was born (assassinated 1965).

13/9/1901, Sir Sheshadri Aiyar, Indian statesman, died (born 1845). He did much to develop Mysore State.

24/7/1899, Sir Arthur Cotton, irrigation engineer in India, died (born 15/5/1803).

2/3/1898, Saiyid Ahmed, Indian educationalist, died at Aligarh (born 1817).

British India; issues with the North-West Frontier area

10/11/1901. The North-West Frontier province was incorporated into India.

12/2/1901, Britain extended direct rule from India into the tribal areas of Peshawar, Khyber and Waziristan, scene of much inter-ethnic fighting. Britain was concerned that unrest in these areas, on India�s northern frontier, would allow Russia to invade from the north through Afghanistan.

11/10/1897, Mohmand tribesmen surrendered to a British punitive attack in Northwest Frontier Province, resultant on earlier raids on British frontier positions.

27/9/1897, British punitive operations began in the Northwest Frontier area, against Mohmand tribesmen who had harassed British forces, inspired by preaching from the Amir of Afghanistan.

21/9/1897, British forces attacked by Mohmand tribesmen at Nawagai. The attackers were repulsed and reinforcements under General Elles arrived.

14/9/1897, A British punitive expedition into the North West Frontier region of India, against local tribes who had been harassing British forces since the Amir of Afghanistan began rousing anti-Christian sentiments in the region, came under attack and was halted at Nawagai. The commander, Major-General Blood, dug in and awaited reinforcements.

8/8/1897, Mohmand tribal attack on Shabdakar, British India, inspired by preaching by the Afghan Mullah.

31/7/1897, Swati tribal attack on British-India frontier posts, inspired by preaching by an Afghan Mullah

12/11/1893, The Durand Agreement, defining the border between Afghanistan and India, was signed. This line bisected Pathan lands.

1/10/1887. The British in India annexed Baluchistan, an area strategic to the North-West Frontier.

British military strategy on the Indian North-West Frontier was to maintain an administrative zone where the military protected the civilian, farming, population, a �forward zone� where garrisons were purely for military operations, and forward of that, a �tribal zone� where just the main roads were protected. This zone system had been in use for many centuries.

10/6/1897, Pathan attack on Indian forces escorting a British frontier officer in the Tochi valley. Anti-Christian sentiment amongst Muslims in the area had been building, inspired by Turkish success against Greece and preaching by the Amir of Afghanistan, but the |British were unaware of this.

13/6/1896, Sir James Browne, British engineer in India, died (born 1839).

29/2/1896, Ranchhodji Morarji Desai, Indian Prime Minister who was imprisoned with Gandhi, was born.

19/7/1894, Khwaja Nazimuddin, Prime Minister of Pakistan from 16/10/1951, was born in Dhaka, Bengal.

22/10/1893, Dhuleep Singh, Maharajah of Lahore, died (born 2/1837).

1892, The first indigenous Indians sat on the legislative council.

14/11/1889, Pandit Nehru, first Prime Minister of India, was born in Allahabad.

8/7/1887, Sir Ashley Eden, Britsh administrator of India, died (born 13/11/1831).

16/2/1887, Queen Victoria�s Jubilee was marked in India by the freeing of 25,000 prisoners.

2/2/1887, Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, Indian politician and social worker, a Punjabi Sikh noblewoman who served as secretary to Mahatma Gandhi for 16 years, was born in the Karpathala Palace, Lucknow.

1/1/1887, Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India in Delhi.

1885, The Indian National Congress was founded.

4/12/1883, The International Exhibition at Calcutta opened, the first exhibition to be held in India.

27/6/1879, John Lawrence, colonial Governor-General of India, died (born 24/3/1811).

1/5/1876, Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India.

8/2/1872, Lord Mayo, British Viceroy to India, was murdered by nationalists.

25/1/1871, Sir Proby Cautley, British engineer of canals in India, died (born 1802).

2/10/1869, Mahatma Gandhi, Indian nationalist leader, was born in Porbandar, Gujarat.

23/12/1868, Sir Herbert Edwardes, British soldier in India, died (born 12/11/1819.

7/11/1862, Bahadur Shah II, last titular Mogul Emperor of India, died.

17/6/1862, Charles Canning, British Governor-General of India during the mutiny of 1857, died (born 14/12/1812).

20/11/1859, Mountstuart Elphinstone, Indian statesman, died (born 1779).

1/11/1858. Queen Victoria was proclaimed ruler of India. The East India Company, formed in 1600 to exploit trade with the East, but accused of imperial abuse from the early 1700s, was abolished and administration of India was transferred to the British crown. Misconduct by the East India Company had been partially curbed by the Regulating Act (1773) and Pitt�s India Act (1784). The Indian Mutiny broke the Company�s power, British influence being totally regained with the conquest of Lucknow in March 1858.

2/8/1858, The Government of India transferred the East India Company to the British Government.

Indian Mutiny

11/3/1858, William Hodson, British cavalry leader, was killed during the attack on Begum Kotee, Lucknow.

24/11/1857, Sir Henry Havelock, British soldier, died in India.

25/9/1857. The British lifted the siege of Lucknow, ending the Indian Mutiny.

20/9/1857. The British recaptured Delhi from Indian mutineers.

4/7/1857, Sir Henry Lawrence, British colonial administrator in India, died (born 28/6/1806).

2/7/1857, The siege of Lucknow began.

30/5/1857, Anti-British mutiny at Oudh, india.

4/6/1857, In the Indian Mutiny, the British garrison of Kanpur (Cawnpore) in Uttar Pradesh, niorthern India,� came under siege by Indian rebels against British rule. After a three-week siege the British, under Sir Hugh Wheeler, were promised safe passage to Allahabad, on thatched barges. However as they departed the barges were fired upon, and set ablaze. The survivors were transferred to a house called the Bibighar, where they were massacred on 15/7/1857 by Indian rebels. 197 died.

10/5/1857. The outbreak of the Indian (Sepoy) Mutiny in Meerat. On 6/5/1857, 85 men of the 90-strong 3^rd Cavalry Regiment in Meerut had refused to bite off the greased and of the new cartridges for Lee Enfield rifles, which they claimed contained both pig and cow fat, so offending both Muslims and Hindus. The British had 24 hours warning of the mutiny but refused to take the threat seriously. The Indian mutineers seized Delhi on 11/5/1857.

Indian Mutiny

1856, The Annexation of Awadh (Oudh) by the British East India Company. The loss of rights by hereditary landowners caused resentment which contributed to the Indian Mutiny.

24/9/1856, Henry Hardinge, British colonial Governor-General of India, died (born 30/3/1785).

1850, Sikkim, a region in the far north of India, became a British dependency, paving the way for British penetration into Tibet.

21/2/1849. Sikh forces were decisively defeated by the British at the Battle of Gujerat. This concluded the Second Sikh War; Britain annexed Punjab.

4/1/1849, British forces captured the city of Multan, India.

18/6/1848, A Sikh force was defeated by the British at Kinyeri.

5/9/1846, Charles Metcalfe, British colonial administrator of India, died (born 30/1/1785).

28/6/1846, Defeat of Ranjit Singh by British forces at Aliwal, during the First Sikh War.

21/12/1845, The Battle of Ferozeshah began.

13/9/1845, Sir Henry Cotton, British administrator in India, was born.

29/12/1843, The Battle of Maharaipur.

17/2/1843, The Muslim Emirs of Sind refused to cede their independence to the East India Company. The British provoked an Anglo-Sind conflict, so that Charles Napier could destroy the 30,000 strong Baluch Army. In March 1843 Napier defeated the Emirs of Sind, and sent a one-word telegram to London �Peccavi�, meaning �I have sinned�.

7/4/1842, British forces defeated Akbar Khan at Jalabad.

24/7/1837, The Indian Post Office was established.

18/2/1836, Ramakrishna, Indian mystic was born in Kamarpukur, India (died 1886).

1835, The British in India ceased using Persian as the official language, replacing it with English.

6/5/1834, Sikh troops from the Punjab under Ranjit Singh took Peshawar.

30/5/1833, Sir John Malcolm, British diplomat to India, died (born 2/5/1769).

28/1/1832, Sir Tiruvarur Aiyar, Indian High Court Judge (Madras), was born (died 1895).

18/11/1831, An uprising in Bengal against tyrannical Hindu rule was suppressed. Its leader, the Muslim Titu Mir, was killed by government forces.

13/11/1831, Sir Ashley Eden, Britsh administrator of India, was born (died 8/7/1887).

21/6/1830, Benoit de Boigne, first of the French military adventurers in India, died (born in Chambery, Savoy 8/3/1751).

17/6/1830, Lord William Bentinck, Governor-General of India, died in Paris).

4/12/1829, The practice of suttee, immolation of widows, was made illegal in British-controlled India.

28/11/1826, Francis Hastings, British colonial Governor of India, died (born 9/12/1754).

4/9/1825, Naoroji Dadabhai, Indian statesman, was born.

12/11/1819, Sir Herbert Edwardes, British soldier in India, was born (died 23/12/1868).

22/8/1818, Warren Hastings, British administrator and first Governor-General of British India, died in Worcestershire aged 85.

2/3/1816, Ghurkas signed a peace treaty with the British, following their heavy defeat in the Kathmandu Valley; this ended their year-long war.

1/7/1813, The East India Company lost its monopoly of trade with India.

14/12/1812, Charles Canning, British Governor-General of India during the mutiny of 1857, was born (died 17/6/1862).

11/1/1812, John Jacob, Indian administrator, was born (died 1858)

24/3/1811, John Lawrence, colonial Governor-General of India, was born (died 27/6/1879).

29/5/1807, John Russell Colvin, Governor of the north-west provinces of India, was born in Kolkata (died 24/3/1908).

28/6/1806, Sir Henry Lawrence, British colonial administrator in India, was born (died 4/7/1857).

28/11/1803, The British army, led by Major John Wellesley, the future Duke of Wellington, won a great victory over the Indians at Argaum, Madhya Pradesh.

1/11/1803, The British won the Battle of Laswari, against the Marathas of India.

23/9/1803, The British won the Battle of Assay, India, defeating the Marathas in the Second Maratha War.

14/9/1803, British General Lake captured Delhi, India.

15/5/1803, Sir Arthur Cotton, irrigation engineer in India, was born (died 24/7/1899).

20/2/1803, The British captured the town of Kandy, Ceylon (Sri Lanka).

4/5/1799, The British conquered Seringapatam, capital of Mysore in southern India.

23/4/1795, Warren Hastings was acquitted of high treason.

16/3/1792, Tippoo Sahib, Indian Sultan who was resisting the advance of the British East India Company into Mysore, surrendered. Tippoo had studied British military tactics and so was able to resist General Charles Cornwallis for longer than other Indian rulers.

30/3/1785, Henry Hardinge, British colonial Governor-General of India, was born (died 24/9/1856).

30/1/1785, Charles Metcalfe, British colonial administrator of India, was born (died 5/9/1846).

13/8/1784, The East India Act put the Company under a board of control to manage its revenue and administration.

3/4/1784, The British Parliament passed the India Act, to make the British East India Company more accountable.

1/7/1781, In India, British troops defeated Haidar Ali at Porto Novo.

18/10/1778, The city of Pondicherry surrendered to the British.

22/11/1774, Robert Clive, English soldier and Governor of India, died from an overdose of opium, shortly after being vindicated of improper behaviour regarding the East India Company.

14/9/1774, Lord William Bentinck, Governor-General of India, was born (died in Paris 17/6/1830).

13/4/1772, Warren Hastings was appointed Governor of Bengal.

2/5/1769, Sir John Malcolm, British diplomat to India, was born (died 30/5/1833).

12/8/1765, Robert Clive received revenue authority over Bengal from the Mogul emperor. The disintegration of the Mogul Empire created opportunities for the British, the French, and also Indian princes. See 12/8/1756.

23/10/1764, The British won the Battle of Buxar, Bengal.

3/5/1764, The British won the Battle of Patna, Bengal.

10/11/1763, Joseph Dupleix, French colonial governor of India, died (born 1/1/1697).

27/5/1761, Sir Thomas Munro, British colonial Governor of India, was born (died 6/7/1827).

14/1/1761, At the Battle of Panipat, north of Delhi, the Afghans under Ahmad Shah Durrani defeated the Marathas Indians. Although Durrani weakened Mughal power he was unable to fill the resultant power vacuum, thereby opening the way for British dominance of India.

23/6/1757. The Battle of Plassey took place in Bengal. The British victory of Robert Clive over the Nawab of Bengal laid the foundations for the British Empire in India.

23/3/1757, The British won the Battle of Chandernagore, Bengal.

7/2/1757, The Treaty of Alinagar was concluded by Clive of Plassey, following his recapture of Calcutta from the Nawab of Bengal, Siraj al Daula. Under this Treaty, Calcutta was returned to the East India Company, who gained the right to fortify the city and to print money. Calcutta became a bridgehead from which the East India Company extended its control across Bengal.

2/1/1757, Clive of India captured Calcutta after it had been seized by the Nawab of Bengal. The Nawab had imprisoned 146 British in the infamous Black Hole of Calcutta, see 20/6/1756. This brought Bengal, with all its wealth, under British control.

20/6/1756, Night of the Black Hole of Calcutta. See 2/1/1757, and 12/8/1765. A total of 147 people were confined in what came to be known as the Black Hole of Calcutta. The remaining European defenders of Calcutta in the Seven Years War in India were shut away in a local lock up for petty offenders, following the capture of Calcutta by the Nawab Siraj Ul Dawlah of Bengal. The Black Hole was a room 18 feet long by 14 foot 10 inches wide, with only two small windows. According to the British leader John Z Holwell, only 23 of the 147 imprisoned survived, but this figure may be inaccurate. Instead of the suspected slaughter, the Nawab may have been guilty of negligence.

9/12/1754, Francis Hastings, British colonial Governor of India, was born (died 28/11/1826).

Britain and France competed for control of India; Britain won.

5/11/1751, British forces defeated the French in the battle for control of southern India at Arcot.

10/6/1747, Nadir Shah was assassinated by a bodyguard.

25/7/1746, The French won a major naval victory at Negapatam, allowing them to capture Madras.

20/3/1739, Persian ruler Nadir Shah sacked the Indian city of Delhi. The collapse of the Moghul Empire created a large power vacuum in India. The Afghans invaded from the north-west, Marathas invaded from the west, and local warlords carved out small independent states, perpetually fighting each other. In the middle of this chaos, Britain was able to take over.

7/2/1736, Rene-Marie Madec, French adventurer in India, was born.

6/12/1732, Warren Hastings, British ambassador and first Governor-General of India, was born in Churchill, Oxfordshire.

13/6/1732, Sir Elijah Impey, Chief Justoce of Bengal, was born (died 1809).

18/11/1727, The Indian city of Jaipur was founded.

Death of Aurangzeb. Decline and chaos in India, paved the way for British colonisation.

20/2/1707, The Mogul Emperor Aurangzeb died aged 88, his empire crumbling around him. He seized the throne at Agra from his father Shah Jehan 49 years earlier, killing two of his brothers and jailing the third to secure his succession. He moved the capital to Delhi, and enjoyed stable rule until his third son backed a rebellion by the Rajputs, Hindu warriors of Rajasthan. His military ventures bankrupted his kingdom, causing his subjects starvation through excessive taxation, and he caused resentment by destroying hundreds of Hindu temples. On his death, provincial Governors quickly declared independence amidst wars of succession and foreign invasions.

1/1/1697, Joseph Dupleix, French colonial governor of India, was born (died 10/11/1763).

24/8/1690, The port of Calcutta was founded by Job Charnock of the English East India Company. He obtained a grant for the land on which the city stands this year from Aurangzeb.

18/4/1669. Aurangzeb, the Moghul Emperor of India, ordered that all recently constructed Hindu temples should be demolished.

Reign of Aurangzeb

1668, First French visitors to India.

22/1/1666, Shah Jahan died, aged 74, in the fort where his son Aurangzeb had imprisoned him with his harem for the previous eight years. He had ruled India from 1628 to 1658, until illness forced his abdication. Shah Jahan had built the Taj Mahal as a mausoleum for his wife Mumtaz-i-Mahal and he was buried beside her. Aurangzeb had fought and killed his brothers to attain the throne, as Shah Jahan had done in 1628.

1658, Mogul Emperor Aurangzeb acceded to the throne.

1653, The Taj Mahal was completed (construction began 1632).

25/1/1628, Shah Jehan was crowned ruler of the Mughal Empire.

28/10/1627, Jahangir, ruler of the Moghul Empire, died.

3/11/1618, Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb born (died 1707).

10/1/1615, Sir Thomas Roe, Britain�s first Ambassador to India, presented his credentials at Agra.

15/10/1605, Akbar I (The Great), Jalal ud Din Muhammad Akbar, died. He was Mughal Emperor of India, 1556-1605 (born 1542). Succeeeding his father, Humayun, he took over from the Regent in 1560. He gained control of the whole of India north of the Vindhaya Mountains. He established a uniform system of weights and measures, encouraged the arts and sciences, and was tolerant to non-Muslims. He was succeeded by his son, Jahangir.

31/12/1600. Queen Elizabeth I granted a charter of incorporation to the East India Company. This charter gave George Clifford, the Earl of Cumberland, and 215 knights, aldermen, and merchants the right to trade in the East Indies (i.e. all countries beyond the Cape of Good Hope) for 15 years. The members of the Company paid a total of �72,000 to finance a large scale trading expedition and planned to send five ships to Java and Sumatra, to break the Dutch monopoly on the spice trade. Unauthorised interlopers were liable to confiscation of ships and cargo.� See 20/3/1602.

1594, Lisbon closed its spice market to Dutch and English traders; at this time Portugal was in personal union with Spain, both being ruled by Philip II, and England was helping the Dutch to gain independecnce from Spain. This forced traders from those countries to get their spices directly from India, and the creation of the Dutch East India Company followed.

1572, Moghul forces conquered Gujerat region.

5/11/1556, Jalal-ud-Din, Moghul Emperor Akbar, defeated a Hindu army at the Battle of Panipat in the Punjab. He regained the Hindustani Empire.

27/1/1556, The Moghul Emperor Humayun died after falling from his library roof in Delhi. He was succeeded by his 14-year old son, Jalal-ud-Din, who returned from exile.

6/5/1542, Francis Xavier arrived at the Portuguese colony of Goa, India, to begin his work of converting the indigenous inhabitants to Christianity.

7/9/1539, Guru Angad Dev became the second Guru of the Sikhs.

26/12/1530, Death of Babur, founder of the Mughal Empire (born 1483).

16/3/1527, The Battle of Khanwa. Babur continued his conquest of northern India.