Important Historical Events

B.C
2500-1800 Indus valley civilization.
599 Birth of Mahavir; Nirvana in 523. B.C.
563 Birth of Gautam Buddha; Nirvana in 483 B.C.
327-26 Alexander's invasion of India and the opening of land route between India and Europe.
269-232 Ashoka's reign.

261 Battle of Kalinga.
57 Beginning of Vikrama era.
30 Satvahana dynasty in Deooan. Pandyan empire in for south.
326 Alexander defeated Poras in the Battle of Hydaspas
261 Ashoka defeated Kalinga in the Kalinga War

A.D

78 Beginning of Saka era.
320 Beginning of Gupta era.
360 Samudragupta conquers the whole of N. India and much of the Deccan.
380-413 Rule of Chandragupta Vikramaditya, age of Kalidasa, renewal of induism.
606-647 Rule of Harshavardhana.
629-645 Hieun Tsang's visit in India.
622 Beginning of Hijra era.
712 Arab invasion of Sind by Mohd. bin Qasim.
1001-27 Repeated attacks of Mehmud Ghazni.
1025 Sacking of Somnath temple by Mehmud.
1191 First battle of Tarain in which Prithviraj Chauhan defeated Mohd. Ghori.
1192 Second battle of Tarain in which Mohd. Ghori defeated Prithviraj Chauhan.
1206 Qutubuddin Aibak founded the Ilbari/Slave dynasty.
1290 Jalaluddin Firuz Khilji established Khilji dynasty.
1290 Marco Polo visited India.
1320 Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq founded the Tughlaq dynasty.
1333 Ibn Batuta arrived in India.
1336 Harihara and Bukka founded the Vijaynagar empire.
1347 Bahmani kingdom founded.
1398 Timur invades India.
1451 Lodi dynasty comes in power in Delhi Sultanate.
1469 Birth of Guru Nanak Dev.
1498 Vasco da Gama lands at Calicut.
1510 Portuguese capture Goa-Albuquerque Governor.
1526 First Battle of Panipat in which Babar defeated Ibrahim Lodhi and established the Mughal dynasty.
1556 Second battle of Panipat in which Akbar defeated Hemu.
1565 Battle of Talikota in which Vijaynagar empire is defeated.
1571 Foundation of Fatehpur Sikri by Akbar.
1576 Battle of Haldighati in which Akbar defeated Maharana Pratap.
1582 Akbar started Din-i-llahi.
1600 English East India Company established.
1604 Compilation of Adi Granth.
1605 Death of Akbar.
1611 The English built a factory at Masulipatnam.
1627 Birth of Shivaji
1631 Death of Shah Jahan's wife Mumtaz Mahal. The building of Taj Mahal.
1658 Aurangzeb became Emperor of Delhi.
1666 Birth of Guru Gobind Singh.
1699 Guru Gobind Singh creates 'Khalsa'.
1707 Death of Aurangzeb, fall of Mughal empire begins.
1739 Nadir Shah invaded India; the peacock throne and the Kohinoor Diamond taken away from India.
1757 Battle of Plassey in which the English defeated Siraj-ud- daula, Nawab of Bengal.
1760 Battle of Wandiwash, end of French power in India,
1761 Third Battle of Panipat in which Ahmed Shah Abdali defeated the Marathas.
1764 Battle of Buxar in which the English defeated the triple alliance of Nawab Mir Qasim of Bengal, Nawab Shuja-ud-daula of Awadh and Mughal emperor Shah Alam.
1793 Permanent settlement in Bengal.
1799 Fourth Anglo Mysore War, death of Tipu Sultan, Ranjit Singh occupied Lahore and made it his capital.
1817-19 Marathas finally crushed.
1828 Lord William Bentick becomes Governor General; Era of social reforms; Prohibition of Sati (1829), Suppression of thugs (1830).
1835 Introduction of English as medium of instruction.
1853 First Indian railway from Bombay to Thane.
1857-58 First war of Indian Independence.
1858 British crown takes over the Indian Government; End of East India Company's rule.
1861 Birth of Rabindra Nath Tagore.
1869 Birth of M.K. Gandhi.
1885 Formation of Indian National Congress.
1905 Partition of Bengal by Lord Curzon.
1906 Formation of All India Muslim League.
1909 Minto-Morley Reforms.
1911 Delhi durbar held, partition of Bengal cancelled, capital shifted from Calcutta to Delhi.
1914 World War I started.
1918 End of World War I.
1919 Rowlatt Act, Jallianwala Bagh massacre, Montague- Chelmsford reforms.
1920 Non-cooperation Movement launched,
1921 Moplah rebellian in Malabar; visit of Prince of Wales.
1922 Chauri-Chaura incidence.
1923 Swaraj party formed.
1927 Simon Commission appointed.
1928 Visit of Simon Commission to India, death of Lala Lajpat Rai.
1929 Congress demanded'Poorna Swaraj'in Lahore session.
1930 January 26 celebrated as Independence Day throughout India, Dandi Salt Satyagraha, First Round Table conference.
1931 Gandhi-lrvin Pact, Second Round Table Conference.
1932 Suppression of Congress Movement, Third Round Table Conference, Communal Award, Poona Pact.
1935 Government of India Act.
1937 Inauguration of Provincial Autonomy. Congress ministries formed in 8 out of 11 provinces.
1939 Resignation of Congress ministries, beginning of World War II.
1942 Cripps Mission Plan, Quit India Movement, Formation of Indian National Army by S.C. Bose.
1945 Simla conference held and the failure of Wavell Plan, INA trials at Red Fort, Delhi.
1946 Cabinet Mission Plan, Formation of Interim Government, Direct Action Resolution by Muslim League.
1947 Mountbatten Plan of June 3 in which partition of India resolution is proposed, India divided, Pakistan created, both achieve independence, Jawarhar Lai Nehru becomes the I Prime Minister of India.

1948 Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi (Jan. 30).
1950 India became republic (Jan. 26).
1951 First Five Year Plan implemented.
1952 First General Elections held.
1953 Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary conquer Mt. Everest (May 29).
1954 Panchsheel agreement between India and China.
1956 Life insurance nationalized, State Reorganising Act comes into force.
1957 Second General Elections.
1958 Metric system of weights and measures introduced.
1959 Dalai Lama exiled; enters India.
1961 Liberation of Goa.
1962 Chinese attack on India. (Oct 20).
1964 Jawaharlal Nehru dies; Lai Bahadur Shastri becomes PM.
1965 Indo-Pak war.
1966 Tashkent Agreement reached, Death of Lai Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi became PM.
1967 Dr. Zakir Hussain elected President.
1968 Hargovind Khurana shares the Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology.
1969 Death of. President Zakir Hussain (May 3). V. V. Giri elected President, Nationalization of 14 leading banks, Split in Indian National Congress.
1970 Former Indian ruler's privy purses abolished. Dr. C. V. Raman died (Nov. 2).
1971 Indo-Pak War over Bangladesh.
1972 Shimla Agreement signed.
1973 Manekshaw named India's first Field Marshal
1974 Nuclear explosion at Pokhran (May 18).
1975 Indian satellite 'Aryabhatta' launched, National emergency declared.
1976 The four Indian News agencies merged into a single News Agency known as 'Samachar', life of Lok Sabha extended by an year.
1977 Defeat of Mrs. Indira Gandhi in the election, Morarji Desai takes over as PM, emergency withdrawn.
1978 India launches world's biggest adult literacy plan (Oct. 2).
1979 Charan Singh became PM., Mother Teresa won the Nobel Peace Prize.
1980 Indira Gandhi returns to power at centre, India launches first satellite using its own satellite launching vehicle (July. 18).
1981 India launched APPLE, Khalistan activists hijack Indian Airlines Boeing 737 to Lahore.
1982 Zail Singh sworn in as President, the 21-member Indian scientific expedition headed by Dr. S. Z. Qasim lands on Antarctica (Jan. 9), INSAT1 A launched, Ninth Asian Games held in New Delhi.
1983 The 7th Non Aligned Summit in New Delhi, Kalpakkam Atomic Energy plant goes critical (July 2), INSAT-1 B launched (Aug. 30), Richard Attenborough's "Gandhi" wins 8 oscars.
1984 Rakesh Sharma becomes India's first spaceman (Apr. 5), Bachendri Pal become the first Indian woman to scale Mt. Everest (May 23), Operation Blue Star, Assassination of Indira Gandhi (Oct 31), Rajiv Gandhi becomes PM, Bhopal Gas tragedy (Dec. 3).
1985 Anti-defection Bill passed (Jan. 3), Azharuddin hits 3 centuries in 3 tests.
1986 The first wholly Indian test-tube baby bom at KEM Hospital, Bombay (Aug. 7).
1987 Sunil Gavaskar becomes the first batsman to score 10,000 runs in tests (Mar. 7), Goa becomes the 25th state of India (May 30).
1988 India's first remote sensing satellite IRS 1 -A launched from Russia (Mar. 17), INSAT 1-C launched from French Guyana (July 22).
1989 Successful test of Agni (May 22), laying of the foundation stone for the Ram Janmabhoomi temple of Ayodhya (Nov 10). V.P. Singh becomes the PM.
1990 Successful launching of INSAT 1-D (June 12), Mandal Commission recommendation implemented (Aug. 7), V.P. Singh tenders resignation (Nov. 7), S. Chandrashekhar becomes PM. (Nov. 10).
1991 Rajiv Gandhi killed in a bomb blast (May 21), P. V. Narsimha Rao became PM. (June 21), Earthquake in Uttarkashi region (Oct. 20), Satyajit Ray got special Oscar award. (Dec.16).
1992 Prithvi test fired (May 5), INSAT-2 A launched (July 10), Dr. Shanker Dayal Sharma became President (July 25), the domes of Babri Masjid demolished (Dec 6).
1993 Panchayati Raj Act effective (Apr. 24), INSAT-2 B launched from French Guyana (July 23), Earthquake in Latur region (Sept. 30).
1994 First heart transplant in the country (Aug. 3), PSLV D-2 launched (Oct. 15).
1995 Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh assassinated (Agu. 31), INSAT-2 C launched (Dec. 7)
1996 A.B. Vajpayee became PM. (May 16), H.D. Deve Gowda became PM. (June 1), India-Bangladesh sign Ganga Water Pact (Dec. 12)
1997 I. K. Gujral became PM. (Apr. 21), K. R. Narayanan sworn in as President (July 25), Mother Teresa passes away (Sept. 5), Arundhati Roy wins Booker Prize (Oct. 14), I. K. Gujral resigns as PM. (Nov. 28)
1998 Konkan railway commissioned (Jan. 26), A. B. Vajpayee became PM. (Mar. 19), India conducted total 5 nuclear tests (May 11 and May 13), Severe cyclone in Gujarat (June 9), Amartya Sen won the Noble Prize in Economics (Oct. 14)
1999 P.M. Vajpayee arrived in Pakistan by Delhi-Lahore bus (Feb. 20), India successfully launched its first commercial telecom satellite INSAT-2 E from Kourou (Apr. 3), Intense fighting in Kargil (June-July), Devastating cyclone in Orissa and A. P. (Oct.)
2000 U. S. President Bill Clinton visited India (Mar.) INSAT-3 B launched from Kourou (Mar. 22), Successful test firing of 'Dhanush', the naval version of 'Prithvi' missile (Apr. 11), Karnam Malleshwari wins a bronze at Olympics, Chattisgarh formed (Nov. 1), Uttaranchal formed (Nov. 9), Jharkhand formed (Nov. 15)
2001 The pilotless target aircraft 'Lakshya' inducted into the Indian Air Force (Jan. 5), Severe earthquake in Gujarat (Ja. 26), the newly-constructed Ennore port dedicated to the nation (Feb. 1), India successfully launches GSLV D-1 from Sriharikota (Apr. 18), Indo-Pak summit at Agra (July 15-16), Lok Pal Bill introduced in Lok Sabha (Aug. 14), Attack on WTC, New York shakes the world (Sept. 11), Lok Sabha passes the bill on "Right to Education till 14" (Nov. 30), Terrorist attack on Indian Parliament (Dec. 13)
2002 INSAT-3 C launched on Ariane rocket from Kourou in French Guyana (Jan. 24), ISRO successfully tries the indegenious cryogenic engine (Feb. 5), POTO passed in the joint session of the Parliament (Mar. 26), LCA test flown successfully (June 6), Cabinet clears 26% FDI in print media (June 25), Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam elected the President of India (July 18), Bhairon Singh Shekhawat sworn in as Vice-President of India (Aug. 19), India launches METSAT by using PSLV-C4 (Sept. 12), Draft of the Tenth Five-Year Plan approved by the Planning Commission (Oct. 5), BSNL launches mobile phone service (Oct. 15), Vajpayee and Putin sign Delhi declaration (Dec. 4), Kelkar submitted modified report on tax reforms (Dec. 28)
2003 Kalpana Chawla killed in space shuttle Columbia burnup (Feb. 1); Large reserves of oil & gas discovered in Barmer district of Rajasthan (Feb. 4); US launched attack on Iraq (Mar. 20); INSAT-3A launched from Kourou (Apr. 10); Indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) renamed 'Tejas' (May 4); GSLVD-2 launched from Sriharikota (May 8); First instance of power failure in modern USA (Aug. 15-16); Mars comes closest to Earth (Aug. 27); Govt. approves the purchase of Advanced Jet Trainers, Hawk, from Britain (Sept. 3); INSAT-3E launched from Kourou (Sept. 20); Pope John Paul-ll beautifies Mother Teresa (Oct. 19); First Afro-Asian Games held in Hyderabad (Oct. 24-Nov. 1); India & Pakistan agree to a formal cease-fire along the LOG (Nov. 25); 97th, 98th, 99th & 100th Constitutional Amendment Bills passed (Dec. 18-23)
2004 Sensex crosses the magical figure of 6000 (Jan. 2); India signs agreement with Russia for obtaining Admiral Gorshkov (Jan. 20); Delhi High Court clears Rajiv Gandhi from the Bofors deal (Feb. 4); 200 killed in Madrid train blast (Mar. 11); Nobel Medals of Rabindra Nath Tagore gets stolen from Shantiniketan (Mar. 25); NDA conducts election before time, but loses unexpectedly, UPA government comes in power, Dr. Manmohan Singh sworn-in as the new PM (May 22); 87 children killed in a fire in school in Kumbhkonam, Tamil Nadu (July 17); Olympics return to their homeland Athens, Rajyavardhan Rathode wins a silver for India (Aug. 13-29); Hamid Karzai wins the Presidential vote in Afghanistan (Oct. 14); Sandalwood King Veerappan is dead (Oct. 18); George W. Bush re-elected (Nov. 3); Kanchi Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati arrested on murder charges (Nov. 11); Yasser Arafat is dead (Nov. 11); Parliament dismissses POTA (Dec. 9); Tsunami causes havoc in South and South East Asia killing more than a lakh (Dec. 26)