Mahatma Gandhi's Life and Legacy

Study Notes

Mahatma Gandhi was born on October 2, 1869 in the coastal town of Porbandar, Gujarat, to a Hindu family.
He trained as a lawyer and began practicing in India in 1891, but was unsuccessful.
In 1915, he moved to South Africa to represent an Indian merchant in a lawsuit and began to use nonviolent resistance to fight for civil rights.
In 1921, he became the leader of the Indian National Congress and led nationwide campaigns for a variety of social reforms.
Gandhi adopted the simple dress and lifestyle of the Indian rural poor as a mark of identification with them, began fasting as a form of political protest, and called for the British to leave India in 1942.
In 1947, the British granted independence to India and the British Indian Empire was partitioned into two dominions, Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan.
Gandhi visited the newly independent Pakistan in 1948 and attempted to stop religious violence there.
He died on January 30, 1948, a few days after completing a fast to pressure India to pay out some cash assets owed to Pakistan.