Recent History
At the end of nineteenth century, steps were taken for self-government in British India. Indian councilors were appointed for advising the British viceroys and provisional councils with Indian members were formed. Various political parties were formed. The two major parties were Indian National Congress and Muslim League. At the onset of 19th century the concept of free India from colonial rule started developing among the political parties. The Indian National Congress, under the Guidance of Mohandas Gandhi transformed their party from a political party to an organized movement against British colonization. Various tactics were used to let their voice heard, which included civil disobedience movements, non-violent and parliamentary resistance.
In 1947, British Government was forced to leave the country, which was made possible through a series of events including resistance from the Indian population and their own internal problems caused by the second world war. On August 15, 1947, India emerged as a free country with Jawaharlal Nehru as Prime minister. India became Republic of India, within the commonwealth after the establishment of a proper constitution in 1950.
After Independence, Jawaharlal Nehru took the reign of the party which was established by Mahatma Gandhi. The congress was governed by Nehru family for the next 3 decades. Jawaharlal Nehru remained the Prime Minister of India till his death in 1964. It was succeeded by his daughter Indra Gandhi and later by his grandson.
At the moment Dr. Manmohan Singh, is fulfilling the duties of Prime Minister and Pratibha Patil (elected 19th July, 2007) is the President of Republic of India.
Longer Historical Perspective
History of India is as old as 2500 B.C. It is believed that, at that time when the rest of world was still living like primitives, India was home to a continuous civilization. The archeological sight of Mehergarh, the world’s oldest civilization, is present in what was called as Sub-continent earlier. An urban culture was developed by the inhabitants of Indus Valley Civilization at that time, which was based on commerce, trade and agriculture. This civilization had a fall in 1500 B.C. This was followed by the arrival of Aryans tribes in the region, who had migrated from the north-west into the subcontinent and settled down around the Ganges River Valley.
Before 4th and 5th AD, various parts of the region, which later emerged as the sub-continent, were ruled by several autonomous kingdoms, with constantly changing boundaries. With the advent of 4th AD, a process of unification started under the reign of Gupta Dynasty. Hindu culture and administration took it final shape. It is defined as Golden Era in the history of India.
Islam was introduced to India with the arrival of Muslim traders, conquerors or migratory population. The first Muslim conquerors Muhammad Bin Qasim set his foot on Indian soil in 7th century. The centuries that followed, saw dawn of Islam in India. Turks and Afghans invaded India and developed their kingdoms in Delhi. In the 16th century Mughals established their dynasty in India, which ruled till the next 200 years. It was the time period when both Hindu and Muslims shared a lot of cultural traits with each other and a separate Indian culture was formed. This Indian culture is still prevalent in the form of various cultural traits, such as Urdu language, which is amalgamation of Hindi, Persian, Arabic and Punjabi.
En Debut de 16th century, the first British outpost was established in the South Asia. Later, East India Company Established its foot in India and opened permanent trading stations at Madras, Bombay and Calcutta, under the wing of rulers who were really naïve about what is in store for them in the future.
The British took its roots in Indian soil and by the 1850s, they were controlling almost of the Indian region. In the 1857, a mutiny was started by Indian and Muslim soldiers, which developed into a bloody war between Indians and British. This mutiny was nipped in the bud and this incident further led to the shift of administration to the Crown from the East India Company.
