HISTORY 7 April 2017 Objectives: Students will Describe the history of South Asia.
Bellwork: Open your book to Chapter 23
sec 1 and find the first three dates for the timeline. What are they? Are they all BCE or CE? Culture / History Packet
Self check in class
South Asia Timeline Early History c. 2500 BCE Indus River Civilization (mod. Pakistan) Planned cities (streets, sewers, plumbing) with brick architecture Writing system 1700-1500 BCE began to decline as the flow of the Indus chnged course Early History
1500 BCE Aryans (northern part of
region) Spoken Language: Sanskrit became a writing system Wrote the Vedas became the basis for Hinduism Early History
500s BCE Buddhism arises
Founded by Siddhartha Gautama (The Buddha) Buddha = Enlightened One Early History
c. 300 BCE - Mauryan Empire arises
Ruler Asoka unites most of the subcontinent NOTE: subcontinent is often how this region is referred to because it is SUB (below) most of the continent c. 260 BCE Asoka becomes Buddhist and sends out missionaries, but allows people to choose their own religion Early History
320 CE Chandragupta I founds the Gupta
Empire Southern part of region Increase in trade led to information exchange (flourishing knowledge in science, math, medicine, arts) Our numerals 1-9 come from the developments in the Gupta Empire Modern Period
Early 1500s CE Moguls (Muslim warriors)
formed an empire in the region Akbar = greatest leader ; expanded land, lowered taxes, supported the arts, treated people fairly Later Moguls taxed heavily and led to decline Modern Period
1600s East India Trading Company
arrives in India British begin to build trading posts along the coastline 1700s Mogul empire begins to decline 1700s - 1800s British empire takes control of the subcontinent with trade and military Ruled by the British East Trading Company Modern History British Rule Pros and Cons Pros Cons - Schools - Cheap British textiles - Infrastructure ruined the local textile (railroads, bridges, industry ports) - Few advances in - Telegraph healthcare high - Postal service death rates, low life expectancy Modern History
Late 1800s Series of famines
Early 1900s Bad conditions lead Indians to start Independence movement Mohandas Gandhi encouraged nonviolent civil disobedience and boycotts Major fear that the majority (Hindus) would treat Muslims poorly Modern History
1947 The British divide the region into
two countries: India for the Hindus Pakistan for the Muslims; had East and West parts Hindus flee to India and Muslims flee to Pakistan Fighting between the groups erupts Modern History 1948 Ceylon (mod. Sri Lanka) gains independence from the British 1965 Maldives becomes independent 1971 East Pakistan declares independence becomes Bangladesh 1983 Civil War in Sri Lanka Tamil people want self rule 1996 Communist rebels fight Nepalese government 2002 - Sri Lankans have peace talks 2006 Nepals king gives up some powers 2008 Nepalese monarchy ends; communists join the government End of Class