History Of India in 14 Minutes

This video has been made possible by Skillshare, a country that has geological jewels and culture. It is the birthplace of one of the oldest religions, and is rising rapidly to become a world force in trade and commerce. From ancient monuments and lavish palaces, from great wealth to poverty, a country that has witnessed a turbulent history of war, famine and extremes of weather, this is the history of India. In the 5th and 6th century AD, there lived a man by the name of Aryabhata, often considered a genius of his time. His mathematical prowess deciphered the volume of Pi, he described a model of the solar system, and even has a spacecraft He was a man of skill and knowledge, when you consider he obviously had no access to a calculator or computer. If you want to polish your skills, then I can recommend Skillshare. Skillshare is an online learning community with high quality classes, along with experts available to help you achieve your goals. Skillshare has thousands of classes, covering subjects from animation, illustration, creative writing, photography, music, web development and more. A question I am often asked is how I animate these videos. I use a mixture of Adobe After Effects, Illustrator and Photoshop, but these take skill to master. Skillshare gives you the opportunity to learn these skills, and many more. I recently viewed a few classes for character animation and motion graphics, because Skazat and Polymatter are just two examples of some amazing motion graphic classes. Their premium gives unlimited access to quality coaching, and is more affordable than many other learning platforms. Because Skillshare is kindly sponsoring this video, you can sign up with the link in the description or the pinned comment below to get 2 months absolutely free. In the region surrounding the Indus Valley River, a civilisation emerged, the Indus Valley, otherwise known as the Harappa civilisation. Archaeologists have discovered over 1,500 sites, the largest cities being Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa. These cities had urban planning, elaborate baked brick buildings and sanitation systems. They conducted trade with the Sumerian civilisations of Mesopotamia and had a Archaeologists have uncovered that this great civilisation housed urban planning and commercial enterprise, but it slowly fell into decline and ultimately disappeared. After the Indus Valley cities were abandoned, there was a migration of Indo-Aryans into the Indian subcontinent. These migrants were known to introduce the ancient religious texts, known as the Vedas, which were to define religious truth for Hindus. The Vedic period flourished from 1500 BC to 500 BC. It was also around this time that the caste system was developed. The caste system, which was a class system determined by birth, created a hierarchy of Brahmins or priests, Kshatriyas or warriors and kings, next came the Versailles or skilled workers and merchants, and then finally the Sutras or labourers, farmers and unskilled workers. Towards the end of this period, the Aryans spread from the Punjab region to the Ganges river, where several kingdoms formed. The Nanda Empire subjugated the surrounding kingdoms but would soon be overthrown by Chandragupta. After his conquests, Chandragupta encountered Sir Lucas, a general of Alexander the Great, who had established an empire for himself. A peace treaty was signed with intermarriage between the royal families and the gift of 500 elephants. Chandragupta's grandson, Ashoka, expanded the Mauryan Empire and waged a great war against the state of Kalinga, killing 100,000 soldiers on both sides. Following his conquest, Ashoka became a devout follower of the Buddha's teachings. For the rest of his 36-year reign, Ashoka took a vow of non-violence and spread Buddhism throughout his realm. However, 50 years after his death, the subcontinent fractured into multiple kingdoms once more. Meanwhile, the south of India was controlled by the Tamil kings, who reigned over three states. Disagreements were rife and war was frequently waged against each other, but they excelled in trade. It was between the 4th and 5th century AD that India was widely acknowledged to have entered a golden age. With the rise of the Gupta Empire, a period of invention and discovery in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, astronomy, art, and literature was born. All these fields saw an explosion of understanding and knowledge and set the marker for the world to follow. It is also believed the game chess was invented in this period. Following the collapse of the Gupta Empire, there followed centuries of multiple kingdoms and dynasties that rose and ultimately fell. However, in the 10th century, King Raja Aja was successful in uniting the southern kingdoms under one leadership. The Chola Empire under this king expanded further and built one of the largest Hindu temples within India dedicated to the god Shiva. This empire, with a centralized government, created unique architecture and boasted naval skills that spread their influence throughout Southeast Asia. It was in the 11th century that the Ghaznavids of Turkic-Mamluk origin overran the North Indian plains using swift horse cavalry and vast armies united by ethnicity and religion. Eventually, the Muslim army broke up and led to the establishment of the Islamic Delhi Sultanate. It was the beginning of an Indo-Muslim fusion of cultures. The Sultanate was to control much of Northern India and would make incursions into South India and they successfully repelled the Mongol invasions. However, internal instability and Hindu reconquest resulted in the decline of the Sultanate and new Muslim Sultanates splintered from the empire. India and the Roman Empire had liaised with each other since as early as 30 BC. This connection was mainly through merchants and trade. However, with the collapse of the Roman Empire, contact between India and Europe was all but lost. During the 15th century, Portugal, dedicated to shipbuilding and exploration, sent explorers to sail down the coast of Africa. Vasco da Gama subsequently discovered a new sea route to India. He met with the Zumarin of Calicut who granted permission to trade. Following successful trade expeditions, the Portuguese soon set up trading posts in Goa, Calicut, Colombo, Cochin, Bombay and many more, largely through conquest and diplomacy. As trading posts and forts expanded, disagreements were rife between the Portuguese and their Muslim rivals. The Mughals, who were an Islamic empire, had successfully campaigned to dominate India. Muhammad Babur was the founder of the Mughal Empire and was himself a descendant of Emperor Timur and Genghis Khan. His grandson, Akbar the Great, endeavoured to establish a good relation with all religious groups throughout his empire and withdrew the Jizy attacks for non-Muslims. Under Akbar's rule, the empire tripled in size and wealth. Libraries and schools were built across the empire for both Muslims and Hindus. He appreciated the arts and culture and cultivated them throughout his empire, ushering in the Mughal style of architecture, which combined elements of Islamic, Persian and Hindu design. The reign of Shah Jahan was the golden age of Mughal architecture, perhaps the most profound and lasting monument was the Taj Mahal, which still attracts millions of tourists every year. In the early 18th century, the Mughal Empire sank into chaos and violent feuds, weakened by tension between the Hindu population and the Muslim ruling class, as well as invasions by the Afghans and other Indian rulers. The Maratha Empire capitalised on the struggling Mughals and expanded further and became the dominant power in the region. Meanwhile, the Portuguese, Dutch, Danish, French and English had gradually established several forts and trading posts along the Indian coastline. The English East India Company was founded in 1600, but gathered greater power within India because of a private army and an imposing navy, who gradually overwhelmed their European competitors. In 1757, the East India Company, under the leadership of Robert Clive, won victory against the Nawab of Bengal, which consolidated the company's power. Robert Clive amassed a personal fortune, but his actions and atrocities led to the deaths of millions of people, as he enforced the cultivation of non-food crops, which resulted in extreme famine. In 1760, the company had asserted control over a vast quantity of the subcontinent through direct control or tributaries. They continued to expand over the following decades. They encountered resistance from the Sikhs, who had established an empire in the Punjab region. After the death of their Sikh leader, the empire was weakened by internal division, which enabled the British to conquer them following the Anglo-Sikh wars. The East India Company managed to rule India due to large naval vessels, the introduction of steam trains, and the use of more advanced weapons. The British population was nowhere near the same size as India, so the British employed Indian infantry called sepoys, who were under the command of British officers. The sepoys were not treated well, receiving low pay, and were enforced to fight abroad. This fuelled frustrations, but there were further upsets when the British banned child marriage and outlawed slavery, which were part of Indian culture at the time. A rebellion began when the sepoys were issued with ammunition coated in pig and beef fat, which they refused to use and deeply offended them, and they, amongst others, mutinied. The rebellion and mutiny failed, largely because there was little shared identity between Indians, and in 1857, the British crown took direct rule of India, with Queen Victoria being declared Empress of India in 1876. During World War I, over a million Indians saw combat on the Western Front, the Mesopotamian campaign, East Africa, Egypt, and Gallipoli, claiming the lives of 75,000 people. Shortly after the end of World War I, Gandhi, amongst other leaders, led Indians to challenge the British for independence, and during World War II, he called for the British to quit India. However, during World War II, as part of the Allied Nations, over 2.5 million Indians volunteered to fight. In 1947, Britain granted independence. British India was partitioned into a Hindu-majority India, and a Muslim-majority Pakistan. This period also saw one of the largest mass migrations ever recorded in modern history, with a total of around 15 million Hindus, Sikhs, and Muslims moving between the newly created nations of India and Pakistan. In 1971, East Pakistan was formed into the country of Bangladesh, and to this day, tensions between Pakistan and India remain tense. Today, India is the world's largest democracy, with a rapidly growing economy. Science and achievements are both ancient and modern. The Indian Space Research Organisation are currently sending missions to the moon and beyond, and are arguably one of the best countries in space exploration. The Indian film industry of Bollywood is one of the world's largest. Cricket has long been a passion for many Indians. India is also the birthplace of Hinduism, and many follow its practices throughout the world. India today, and throughout history, has a varied past. It is the 7th largest country by area, and the 2nd largest country by population. It cannot be denied that India today has much to offer the world in the decades to come. I hope you have enjoyed this episode, and thank you for watching. Remember to like, subscribe, ring the bell notification, and see you next time.