India - History
Indian history can be traced back over some 5,000 years. The country’s
rich natural resources - spices, indigo, sugar, cotton, silk, sandalwood,
and ivory - made it a target for invasion and colonisation by European
powers from the fifteenth century onwards.
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Photo: Rajendra Shaw/Oxfam |
The history of the British in India begins in 1600, with the setting
up of the East India Company, a trading company designed to exploit
India’s rich natural resources. The company gradually extended
its rule through India, and in 1858 the British crown took over
from the East India Company as the ruler of India. Britain then
ruled India as part of the British Empire until the independence
movement, led by Mahatma Gandhi and others, succeeded in gaining
Indian independence in 1947.
Following independence India was divided up in a process called
partition, to create Pakistan as a Muslim state. This was a difficult
process; many millions of people had to travel between the new states,
and in the unrest, people were killed. Mahatma Gandhi opposed partitition;
he was assassinated by a Hindu fundamentalist.
Newly independent, India worked to establish strong institutions
of justice, media and bureaucracy. It is now the largest democracy
in the world and reviving the traditional Panchayat (village council)
system makes sure people can take part in democracy. Fast economic
reform has also made India the world’s tenth most industrialised
country, with a globally competitive computer market and its own
space programme. But border disputes continue to be an issue. In
1962, war broke out with China over the India-China border and in
1971, war with Pakistan led to India recognising the new state of
Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan.
The dispute between India and Pakistan over Kashmir began at independence
and has rumbled on ever since with periodic outbreaks of cross-border
skirmishing. The potential dangers of conflict over Kashmir were
underlined when both countries tested nuclear weapons within weeks
of each other in May 1998 and for several months in 2002 there seemed
to be a real risk of war.
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