500 B.C.-A.D. 800 Buddhism became widespread, but finally gave way to Hinduism.

326 B.C. Alexander the Great invaded India.

232 B.C. Emperor Asoka, the most famous Maurya ruler, died.

ca. 120 A.D. The Scythians from central Asia conquered northern India and established the Kushan Dynasty.

ca. 450 The Huns invaded India.

early 700's Muslims from Arabia invaded India.

1000's Muslims from Persia and Afghanistan invaded India.

1206 A Muslim sultanate was established in Delhi.

1398 Tamerlane and his Tartar army from central Asia raided India and captured Delhi.

1498 Vasco da Gama of Portugal reached India.

1707 Emperor Aurangzeb died, allowing the Maratha tribesmen to conquer central and western India, and the army of Nadir Shah, a Persian ruler, to successfully raid northern India.

1774 Warren Hastings, the first British Governor General of India, took office.

1858 The British crushed the Sepoy Rebellion.

1858 The British government took over the rule of India.

1870's The Indian independence movement began to grow.

1878-1881 Indian troops under British officers defeated Afghanistan in the Second Afghan War.

1885 India defeated Burma in the Third Burmese War.

1885 The Indian National Congress was formed.

1906 The Muslim League was organized.

1909 The British government passed the Morley-Minto Reforms, enlarging the legislative councils in the provinces to include elected Indians for the first time.

1914-1918 The Indian people supported Great Britain in World War I.

1919 The Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms greatly increased the powers of the provincial legislatures.

1919 On April 13, a British general ordered his troops to fire on a restless, unarmed crowd at Amritsar. Almost 400 Indians were killed, and at least 1,200 more wounded.

1920 Mohandas Gandhi became leader of the Indian National Congress, and started a program of nonviolent disobedience against the British.

1935 The British government created a new Indian constitution that gave Indians more political power.

1939 India declared war on Germany, on September 3.

1940 The Muslim League demanded that a separate Muslim country, Pakistan, be carved out of India.

1947-1949 India and Pakistan fought over Kashmir.

1948 Mohandas Gandhi was assassinated.

1950 India became a republic.

1954 France gave India its territories of Karikal (now Karaikal), Mahé (now Mahe), Pondichéry (now Pondicherry), and Yanaon (now Yanam).

1961 Indian troops invaded the Portuguese colonies of Damão (now Daman), Diu, and Goa.

1962 Chinese Communist forces invaded India, and pulled back after gaining much ground.

1964 Prime Minister Nehru died, and was succeeded by Lal Bahadur Shastri.

1965 India and Pakistan fought a second war over Kashmir.

1966 Prime Minister Shastri died, and Indira Gandhi, Nehru's daughter, became the Prime Minister.

1971 India joined East Pakistan in a war against West Pakistan. The West was defeated, and East Pakistan became the independent nation of Bangladesh.

1974 India tested its first atomic bomb.