Dating back at least 5000 years, civilization in India has been a rich and complicated mix of peoples and religions. Harappa and Mohenjodaro were ancient Indian cities which existed between 3000 to 1500 BC. The Gupta dynasty ruled over a golden age for north India for about two hundred years (320-544 A.D.). In the 600s, the Indus River Valley was invaded by Arabs, who brought with them Islam, which took hold in northern India. The Sultanate of Delhi was established in 1206. In 1526, Babur established the Moghul empire, whose culture thrived under Akbar the Great. British rule in India began in the AD 1700s. Foreign domination engendered Indian nationalism, which eventually led to India winning its independence in 1947.

Prehistory
The prehistory of India goes back to the old Stone age (Palaeolithic). While India lies at the eastern limit of the hand axe distribution, there are numerous Acheuléen findspots. Hathnora, in the Narmada Valley has produced hominid remains of middle Pleistocene date. Recent finds include a middle palaeolithic quarry in the Kaladgi Basin, southern India

Indus Valley Civilization
Historians believe that the Indus Valley Civilization (known as the Harappan Civilization) flourished between 3000 BC and 1800 BC, stretching from Afghanistan in the west to the Ganges plains in the east; from the Pamir knot in the north to the Rann of Kutch in the south. The beginnings of the Indus tradition have been traced to 7000 BC at Mehrgarh. This was the largest among the so called Bronze age civilizations of the period. Little is known about this lost culture, as attempts made by historians in deciphering the Harappan script have been in vain. The civilization declined towards the end of the millennium. No one knows where the Harappans came from and what happened after 1700 BC, but around this time, the Aryans appeared on the scene (historians believe they entered India through the Khyber Pass).

Colonial India
Vasco da Gama's discovery of a new sea route to India in 1498 paved the way for European colonization of India. The British established their first outpost in South Asia in 1619 at Surat on the northwestern coast of India, arriving in the wake of Portuguese and Dutch visitors. Later in the century, the British East India Company opened permanent trading stations at Madras, Bombay, and Calcutta, each under the protection of native rulers.

After 1947
On August 15, 1947, India became a dominion within the Commonwealth of Nations under the leadership of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Concurrently the Muslim northwest and north east of British India was separated into the nation of Pakistan. Violent clashes between Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs followed this partition. The area of Kashmir in the far north of the subcontinent quickly became a source of controversy that erupted into the First Indo-Pakistani War which lasted from 1947 to 1949. Eventually a cease fire was agreed to that left India in control of two thirds of the contested region. The Indian Constituent Assembly adopted India's constitution on November 26, 1949. External link to the constitution India became a secular republic within the Commonwealth after promulgating its constitution on January 26, 1950

Indian History
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