India’s Entire Pre-Independence History In A Few Words

One could trace India’s history as far back as the Indus civilization between 2600 and 2000 BCE where prominent religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism were born. A few thousand years later, the subcontinent experienced invasions by Muslim rulers who began to integrate and reside in the region by the 13th century.¹

The last 500 years of history began with the Mughal Empire rising between the 16th and 18th centuries as an expanding civilization. This was also a time when European powers began to establish trading posts there.² Eventually, the Mughal Empire itself declined and lead to the rise of various states based on ethnic groups.³

Although European powers such as France and Portugal had trading missions to the subcontinent (with their remnants still present in Goa and Puducherry), it was the British who rose throughout the Mughal decline. First, Britain’s East India Company began ventures to India for spices and cotton in 1600.⁴ Then, the Company began to hold dominion over the region which eventually underwent direct British control in 1858.⁵ ¹

The formation of the British Raj introduced an imperial bureaucracy, railroads, and colonial modes of production to extract raw materials to Britain. The subcontinent also experienced an increasing nationalist movement.⁶ By 1947, independence was achieved, but with a partition between a Hindu India and a Muslim Pakistan. The British systems of governance in India remained along with the usage of English, with Hindi becoming an official language as well.¹