5 Questions
What is the approximate date of the earliest known modern human remains in South Asia?
30,000 years ago
What type of government does India have?
Secular democracy
What is the name of the civilisation that flourished during 2500-1900 BC?
Indus Valley Civilisation
What type of religions were established in India during the medieval era?
Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Zoroastrianism
Who replaced the Mughals as the dominant power in India in the 19th century?
The British Empire
Study Notes
- India is a country located in South Asia.
- India is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world.
- The Indian subcontinent has a long and diverse history, with the arrival of humans from Africa occurring some 55,000 years ago.
- The Indus Valley Civilisation emerged around 3000 BCE and was one of the most advanced civilisations of its time.
- Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism became established in India during the medieval era.
- The British Indian Empire was partitioned into two independent dominions in 1947. India is a secular, democratic, and federal republic.
- India is home to a variety of religions and cultures, including Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, Jainism, and Buddhism.
- India is a country located in South Asia.
- The name "India" is derived from the Classical Latin India, which referred to the country and an uncertain region to its east.
- The earliest known modern human remains in South Asia date to about 30,000 years ago.
- The Indus Valley Civilisation was a civilisation that flourished during 2500-1900 BC in what is now Pakistan and western India.
- The civilisation engaged in robust trade and produced a variety of crafts.
- Between 2000-500 BC, many regions of the subcontinent transitioned from the Chalcolithic cultures to the Early Harappan cultures.
- The period from 600 to 1200 CE is known as the medieval age in India.
- This age is marked by regional kingdoms and cultural diversity.
- The Indian early medieval age is defined by the defeat of Harsha of Kannauj by the Chalukya ruler of the Deccan, the Pala king of Bengal, and the attempt of the Chalukyas to expand southwards.
- From the 1st century BCE to the 10th century CE, the subcontinent was divided into numerous small kingdoms.
- In the 6th and 7th centuries, religious hymns in the Tamil language were created and led to the resurgence of Hinduism.
- Indian royalty, big and small, and the temples they patronised drew citizens in great numbers to the capital cities.
- Temple towns of various sizes began to appear everywhere as India underwent another urbanization.
- By the 8th and 9th centuries, the effects were felt in South-East Asia, as South Indian culture and political systems were exported to lands that became part of modern-day Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Brunei, Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia.
- Indian merchants, scholars, and sometimes armies were involved in this transmission; South-East Asians took the initiative as well, with many sojourning in Indian seminaries and translating Buddhist and Hindu texts into their languages.
- In the early 16th century, northern India fell again to the superior mobility and firepower of a new generation of Central Asian warriors, resulting in the establishment of the Mughal Empire.
- The Mughal state's economic policies, deriving most revenues from agriculture and mandating that taxes be paid in the well-regulated silver currency, caused peasants and artisans to prosper.
- Under Akbar, the Mughals united their far-flung realms through loyalty, expressed through a Persianised culture, to an emperor who had near-divine status.
- The Mughal Empire largely left its vast non-Muslim subject population to its own laws and customs.
- In the 19th century, the British Empire replaced the Mughals as the dominant power in India.
Make Your Own Quizzes and Flashcards
Convert your notes into interactive study material.
Get started for free
