Indian History Time Line
| 5000 BC | The Kurgan culture in the steppes west of the Ural Mountains (Indo-Aryans) |
| 3120 BC | Mythical Indian war of the Mahabarata |
| 3000 BC | The proto-indo-european language develops in Central Asia |
| 3000 BC | Dravidian speaking people develop the civilization of the Indus Valley |
| 2500 BC | The cities of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro in the Indus Valley |
| 2000 BC | The civilization of the Indus Valley declines |
| 2000 BC | The Kurgan culture spreads to eastern Europe and northern Iran |
| 1700 BC | Indo-Iranians separate from the other Indo-European tribes and migrate eastward to settle in Iran |
| 1600 BC | Indo-Aryans invade India from the west and expel the Dravidians |
| 1500 BC | Religious texts are written in Vedic, an Indo-European language |
| 1100 BC | The Indo-Aryans use iron tools |
| 1000 BC | The Rig-Veda are composed |
| 900 BC | Indo-Aryans discover iron and invade the Ganges Valley |
| 750 BC | Indo-Aryans rule over 16 mahajanapadas ("great states") in northern India, from the Indus to the Ganges |
| 700 BC | The caste system emerges, with the Brahman priests at the top |
| 600 BC | The Upanishads are composed in Sanskrit |
| 543 BC | Bimbisara of Bihar conquers the Magadha region in the northeast and moves the capital to Rajagriha |
| 527 BC | Prince Siddhartha Gautama is enlightened and becomes the Buddha |
| 521 BC | Darius of Persia expands the Persian empire beyond the Indus River (Punjab and Sind) |
| 500 BC | The ascetic prince Mahavira founds Jainism in northern India |
| 493 BC | Bimbisara dies and is succeeded by Ajatashatru |
| 461 BC | Ajatashatru dies after expanding the Magadha territory |
| 400 BC | Panini's grammar (sutra) formalizes Sanskrit, an evolution of Vedic |
| 327 BC | Alexander of Macedonia invades the Indus valley |
| 323 BC | At the death of Alexander, Seleucus obtains India (Punjab) |
| 304 BC | The Magadha king Chandragupta Maurya buys the Indus valley for 500 elephants from Seleucus, and thus founds the Maurya dynasty with capital in Patna (Pataliputra) |
| 300 BC | The Ramayana is composed |
| 300 BC | The Chola dynasty rules over southern India with capital in Thanjavur |
| 290 BC | The Mauryan king Bindusara, son of Chandragupta, extends the empire to the Deccan |
| 259 BC | The Mauryan king Ashoka, grandson of Chandragupta, converts to Buddhism and sends out Buddhist missionaries to nearby states |
| 251 BC | Ashoka's son Mahinda introduces Buddhism to Ceylon (Sri Lanka) |
| 250 BC | Diodotos, ruler of the satrapy of Bactria (Afghanistan), declares its independence from the Seleucids and conquers Sogdiana |
| 250 BC | Buddhists carve the first cave temples (Lomas Rishi) |
| 232 BC | Ashoka dies |
| 220 BC | The Maurya dynasty under Ashoka's son Bindusara expands to almost all of India |
| 206 BC | Seleucid king Antiochus III conquers Punjab |
| 200 BC | The Mahabarata is composed |
| 200 BC | Demetrios I expands Bactria to northwestern India |
| 200 BC | The Andhras occupy the Indian east coast |
| 184 BC | The Maurya ruler Brihadratha is assassinated by Pushyamitra Sunga/Shunga, the Maurya dynasty ends and the Sunga dynasty begins |
| 190 BC | Bactrian king Euthydemus defeats Seleucid king Antiochus III at Magnesia |
| 170 BC | Batrian king Demetrios I expands Bactria to northwestern India |
| 155 BC | Bactrian king Menander invades northwestern India |
| 150 BC | Patanjali writes the "Yoga Sutras" |
| 150 BC | The Andhras under king Krishna move their capital to Paithan |
| 150 BC | The "Kama" sutra is composed |
| 100 BC | India is mainly divided among Bactria (northwest), Andhras (east) and Sungas (south) |
| 100 BC | The Bhagavata Gita is composed |
| 80 BC | The Scythians (Sakas) under Bhumaka conquer northwestern India from Bactria |
| 78 BC | The Sunga dynasty ends |
| 50 BC | King Simuka installs the Satavahanas in Andhra Pradesh and extends his kingdom to the whole of the Deccan plateau |
| 50 BC | The Scythians (Sakas) conquer Muttra and Taxila |
| 50 AD | Thomas, an apostle of Jesus, visits India |
| 50 AD | The first Buddhist stupa at Sanchi |
| 127? AD | Kanishka, king of the Kushan, enlarges the kingdom from Bactria into Uzbekistan, Kashmir, Punjab, moves the capital to Peshawar and promotes Buddhism |
| 162 AD | Kushan king Kanishka dies |
| 200 AD | The Manu code prescribes the rules of everyday life and divides Hindus into four castes (Brahmins, warriors, farmers/traders, non-Aryans) |
| 233 AD | Ardashir I Sassanid conquers the Kushan empire |
| 250 AD | The Satavahanas disintegrate |
| 300 AD | The Pallava dynasty is founded in Kanchi |
| 318 AD | Chandra Gupta founds the Gupta kingom in Magadha and extends its domains throughout northern India with capital at Patna |
| 350 AD | Samudra Gupta extends the Gupta kingdom to Assam, Deccan, Malwa |
| 350 AD | The Kadambas of Karnataka rule from Banavasi |
| 350 AD | The Sangam is compiled in the Tamil language in the kingdom of Madurai |
| 350 AD | The Puranas are composed (a compendium of Hindu mythology) |
| 380 AD | Buddhist monks carve two giant Buddha statues in the rock at Bamiya, Bactria (Afghanistan) |
| 390 AD | Chandra Gupta II extends the Gupta kingdom to Gujarat |
| 400 AD | The Shakas kingdom in Gujarat and Sindh dissolves |
| 400 AD | The Licchavi family unites Nepal |
| 450 AD | The Gupta king Kumargupta builds the monastic university of Nalanda (near Patna) |
| 455 AD | The Huns raid the Gupta empire (Punjab and Kashmir) |
| 465 AD | King Harisena of the Vakataka dynasty begins work at the Ajanta caves |
| 499 AD | The Hindu mathematician Aryabhata writes the "Aryabhatiya", the first book on Algebra |
| 500 AD | Bhakti cult in Tamil Nadu |
| 510 AD | Huns led by Mihiragula conquer Punjab, Gujarat and Malwa from the Gupta |
| 528 AD | The Gupta empire collapses under continuous barbaric invasions |
| 535 AD | Cave-temple of Elephanta Island (Bombay) |
| 550 AD | The Chalukyan kingdom is established in central India with capital in Badami |
| 578 AD | Badami shrines in Karnataka |
| 600 AD | Shakti cult (mother-goddess) |
| 600 AD | The Pallava dynasty dominates southern India from Kanchi |
| 602 AD | Tibet is unified under Namri Songtsen |
| 606 AD | Harsha Vardhana, a Buddhist, builds the kingdom of Thanesar in north India and Nepal with capital at Kanauij in the Punjab |
| 625 AD | Pulikesin extends the Chalukyan empire in central India |
| 629 AD | The Chinese monk Xuanzang (Huang Tsang) travels to India |
| 629 AD | Tibet expands to Nepal under Songtsen Gampo |
| 630 AD | Songzen Gampo introduces Buddhism to Bhutan |
| 647 AD | Thanesar king Harsha Vardhana is defeated by the Chalukyas (based in Karnataka) at Malwa (central India) |
| 650 AD | Ellora caves |
| 650 AD | The Pallavas rule from their capital at Kanchipuram (Tamil Nadu) are defeated by the Chalukyas |
| 670 AD | The Pallavas build a new city at Mamallapuram |
| 700 AD | The Mahavamsa is composed in the Pali language in Ceylon |
| 700 AD | The Shore temple at Mamallapuram |
| 700 AD | The Pallavas rule southern India from their capital Kanchipuram |
| 711 AD | The Arabs conquer Sindh and Multan (Pakistan) |
| 723 AD | Kathmandu is founded in Nepal |
| 730 AD | King Lalitaditya rules in Kashmir |
| 750 AD | Temples of Bhubaneshwar and Puri |
| 750 AD | The Gurjara-Pratiharas rule the north of India |
| 750 AD | The Palas rule eastern India |
| 753 AD | The Rashtrakutas, a Chalukya dynasty, expand from the Deccan into south and central India |
| 757 AD | The capital of the Chalukyan kingdom is moved from Badami to Pattadakal |
| 757 AD | The Kailasa temple at Ellora |
| 775 AD | The Rashtrakutas are defeated by the Chalukyas, who move the capital at Kalyani (Mysore) |
| 775 AD | Krishna I of the Rashtrakuta dynasty builds the rock-cut Kailasha Temple at Ellora |
| 784 AD | The Pratihara king Nagabhata II conquers the sacred capital of the north, Kanyakubja |
| 800 AD | Kingdoms are created in central India and in Rajastan by Rajputs (warlords) |
| 800 AD | Shankar (Samkara) Acharya founds the Hinduist monastery of Sringeri |
| 842 AD | The Tibetan emperor Langdarma is assassinated and the empire disintegrates |
| 846 AD | The Cholas regain independence from the Pallavas |
| 871 AD | Sindh and Multan (Pakistan) are de facto independent from the Baghdad caliphate |
| 885 AD | The Pratihara empire reaches its peak under Adivaraha Mihira Bhoja I, extending from Punjab to Gujarat to Central India |
| 888 AD | The Pallava dynasty ends |
| 890 AD | First Hindu temples at Khajuraho |
| 900 AD | The Bhagavata Purana is composed in Sanskrit |
| 950 AD | The Tomara Rajputs gain independence from the Gurjara-Pratihara empire and found their capital at Delhi |
| 950 AD | The Chandellas gain independence from the Gurjara-Pratihara empire and found their capital at Khajuraho (Madhya Pradresh) |
| 977 AD | Sebaktigin, a slave general, founds the Ghaznavid dynasty in Afghanistan, northern India and Central Asia |
| 985 AD | Rajaraja Chola I extends the Chola empire to all of south India and builds the temple of Thanjavur |
| 997 AD | Mahmud of Ghazni raids northern India |
| 998 AD | Mahmud of Ghazni conquers Punjab |
| 1000 AD | The tribal chieftain Nripa Kama conquers the area between the Cholas (south) and the Badami Chalukyas (north) and founds the Hoysala dynasty |
| 1000 AD | Lingaraja and Rajarani temples at Bhubaneshwar (Orissa) |
| 1000 AD | The Shahi state is annexed to the Ghaznavid empire |
| 1000 AD | The Chola king Rajaraja builds the Brihadeshvara Temple in Thanjavur (Tanjore) |
| 1014 AD | Rajendra Chola I becomes the Chola ruler of the south and defeats the Palas in Bengal |
| 1017 AD | The Cholas conquer Ceylon (Sri Lanka) |
| 1019 AD | Mahmud Ghaznavid raids north India and destroys Kanauj, capital of the Gurjara-Pratihara empire |
| 1030 AD | The Ghaznavid empire conquers Punjab |
| 1030 AD | The Solanki kings build the Jain temples at Mount Abu |
| 1050 AD | The Chola empire conquers Srivijaya, Malaya and the Maldives |
| 1070 AD | Vijayabahu I of Rohanna expels the Cholas from Ceylon and moves the capital to Polonnaruva |
| 1084 AD | Mahipala brings the Palas to the peak of their power |
| 1150 AD | The Senas conquer the Palas |
| 1153 AD | Parakramabahu I of Ceylon moves the capital to Polonnaruva and builds the gigantic artificial lake of Parakrama Samudra |
| 1175 AD | Ghurid Turks defeat the Ghazni Turks in the Punjab and the Ghaznavid state is absorbed into the Ghurid empire |
| 1190 AD | The Chalukya empire is split among Hoysalas (south), Yadavas and Kakatiyas |
| 1192 AD | Turkic-speaking chieftains from Afghanistans led by Muhammad of Ghor defeat Prithvi Raj, capture Delhi and establish a Muslim sultanate at Delhi |
| 1197 AD | The Ghuris destroy the Hindu monasteries at Nalanda and Vikramashila |
| 1211 AD | Iltutmish Shams becomes the sultan of Delhi |
| 1206 AD | The Ghurid prince Qutb al-Din Aybak becomes the first sultan of Delhi (Delhi Sultanate) |
| 1225 AD | Qutb al-Din Aybak builds the Qutb Minar in Delhi, the tallest minaret in the world |
| 1250 AD | The Urdu language develops by absorbing elements of Persian, Arabic and Indian dialects |
| 1250 AD | A temple to the Sun in the form of a giant chariot is built at Konarak |
| 1250 AD | End of the Chola dynasty |
| 1266 AD | One of Iltutmish's slaves, Baban, seizes power of the Delhi sultanate, and welcomes Islamic refugees fleeing the Mongol hordes the Delhi sultanate |
| 1288 AD | The Italian explorer Marco Polo visits India |
| 1290 AD | Jalal al-Din Firuz founds the Khalji sultanate |
| 1300 AD | The Tamil establish a kingdom in Ceylon |
| 1303 AD | Jalal al-Din Firuz rebuilds Delhi |
| 1304 AD | Mongols under Ali Beg invade India but are repelled by the Delhi sultanate |
| 1321 AD | Jordanus, a Dominican monk, is the first Christian missionary in India |
| 1325 AD | Muhammad ibn Tughluq becomes sultan of Delhi |
| 1327 AD | sultan Muhammad ibn Tughluq moves his capital from Delhi to Daulatabad (Deogiri) in the Deccan |
| 1328 AD | The Mongols invade India but are repelled by the Delhi sultanate |
| 1333 AD | The Muslim explorer Ibn Battuta travels to India |
| 1336 AD | The southernmost province of the Delhi sultanate declares independence |
| 1341 AD | Bengal (under Fakhruddin Mubarak) declares its independence from the Delhi sultanate |
| 1343 AD | The southern kingdom builds its capital at Vijayanagar (Hampi) |
| 1345 AD | Muslim nobles revolt against Muhammad ibn Tughluq, declare their independence from the Delhi sultanate, and found the Bahmani dynasty in the Deccan |
| 1346 AD | The Vijayanagar kingdom conquers the Hoysalas |
| 1346 AD | The Hoysala dynasty disintegrates |
| 1349 AD | Muslims raid Kathmandu in Nepal |
| 1350 AD | The Kadambas empire disintegrates into the dynasties of Goa, Hanagal and Chandavar |
| 1370 AD | The Vijayanagar kingdom conquers the Muslim sultanate of Madura (Tamil Nadu) |
| 1382 AD | Jaya Sthiti of the Malla dynasty seizes power in Nepal |
| 1387 AD | The Kalan Masjid is built in Delhi |
| 1398 AD | Timur invades India and sacks Delhi, causing demise of the Delhi Sultinate |
| 1490 AD | Guru Nanak Dev founds Sikhism and the city of Amritsar |
| 1497 AD | Babur, a descendant of both Genghis Khan and Timur, becomes the ruler of Ferghana and founds the Mughal (Mogul) dynasty |
| 1498 AD | The Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama reaches India |
| 1509 AD | Portugal conquers Diu and Goa in India |
| 1509 AD | The Vijayanagar kingdom reaches its zenith under Krishna Raja |
| 1526 AD | Babur captures Delhi from Ibrahim, the sultan of Delhi, and founds the Mogul empire in India |
| 1530 AD | Babur dies and his son Humayun succeeds him |
| 1534 AD | Portugal acquires Bombay |
| 1539 AD | Viswanatha founds the Nayak dynasty with capital in Madurai (south India) |
| 1540 AD | Babur's son Humayun loses the empire to Afghan Leader Sher Shah and goes into exile in Persia |
| 1550 AD | The Jain complex at Palitana |
| 1555 AD | The Mogul king Humayun reconquers India |
| 1556 AD | The Mogul king Humayun dies and his son Akbar becomes the ruler of India |
| 1562 AD | Akbar marries Padmini, a Hindu princess of the Rajaputana kingdom |
| 1565 AD | Four Muslim kingdoms ally to destroy the Vijyanagar kingdom at the battle of Talikota |
| 1565 AD | Mysore, a former Vijayanagar principality, becomes independent under the Wodeyars |
| 1600 AD | The British East India Company is established. |
| 1605 AD | Akbar dies and is succeeded by his son Jahangir |
| 1617 AD | Jahangir's son, prince Khurram, pacifies the southern states and receives the title of Shah Jahan |
| 1623 AD | Thirumala Nayakan brings Madurai to its maximum glory |
| 1627 AD | Shivaji (Sivaji) founds the Maratha kingdom |
| 1627 AD | Jahangir dies and Shah Jahan succeeds him |
| 1631 AD | Shah Jahan builds the Taj Mahal |
| 1639 AD | Britain acquires Madras from the raja of Chandragiri |
| 1649 AD | The Vijayanagar empire dissolves |
| 1658 AD | Shah Jahan's son Aurangajeb overthrows the government and seizes power |
| 1665 AD | Britian acquires Bombay from Portugal |
| 1672 AD | France settles Pondicherry |
| 1688 AD | The Moguls complete the conquest of India |
| 1690 AD | Britain acquires Calcutta |
| 1699 AD | Guru Gobind Singh creates the Sikh armed wing of the Akalis |
| 1707 AD | Aurangjeb dies, destabalizing the Mogul Empire |
| 1710 AD | From the Mogul empire a number of kingdoms arise: Sikhs (Punjab), Rajputs (Rajasthan), and Marathas (West India) |
| 1713 AD | The prime minister (peshwa) of Maratha, Balaji Vaishvanath, becomes the real ruler of the Maratha kingdom and the peshwa becomes a hereditary title |
| 1724 AD | The Mogul emperor Asaf Jah retires to become the ruler of Hyderabad |
| 1736 AD | The Nayak dynasty ends in south India (Madurai is bought by the British) |
| 1738 AD | Persian general Nader Shah invades India and captures Delhi |
| 1747 AD | Nader Shah is assassinated |
| 1751 AD | By capturing the town of Arcot from the French, Britain becomes the leading colonial power in India |
| 1757 AD | At the battle of Plassey the East India company defeats France and gains access to Bengal |
| 1758 AD | The Marathas conquer Punjab |
| 1761 AD | The Marathas rule over most of northern India |
| 1761 AD | Afghani invaders led by Ahmad Durani defeat the Marathas at Panipat, thus starting the decline of the Maratha empire |
| 1764 AD | Britain expands to Bengal and Bihar |
| 1769 AD | A famine kills ten million people in Bengal |
| 1773 AD | Warren Hastings, governor of Bengal (India), establishes a monopoly on the sale of opium |
| 1776 AD | The Marathas conquer Mysore |
| 1794 AD | The Marathas conquer Delhi |
| 1802 AD | The Sikh maharaja Ranjit Singh establishes the Sikh kingdom with political capital in Lahore and religious capital in Amritsar |
| 1803 AD | Britain takes Delhi from the Marathas |
| 1815 AD | Ceylon is occupied by the British, who ferry Tamil workers from India |
| 1816 AD | Nepal becomes a British protectorate |
| 1849 AD | Britain annexes the Sikh kingdom of Punjab |
| 1853 AD | The British build the first Indian railway |
| 1857 AD | Indian rebels begin the first war of independence |
| 1858 AD | Power on the Indian colony is transferred to the British government |
| 1862 AD | Bahadur Shah II dies, the Mogul dynasty ends and India becomes a British colony |
| 1882 AD | Mirza Ghulam Ahmed founds in Punjab the Islamic missionary movement of the Ahmedis who oppose jihad, believe that Jesus died in Srinagar and call for a non-violent Islam |
| 1885 AD | The Indian National Congress is founded |
| 1904 AD | British troops occupy Tibet |
| 1906 AD | The All-India Muslim League is founded |
| 1913 AD | The 13th Dalai Lama proclaims Tibet an independent country |
| 1916 AD | The Lucknow Pact unites the Congress and the League in their fight for independence from Britain |
| 1920 AD | Mahatma Gandhi founds the non-violent liberation movement Satyagraha |
| 1921 AD | Jawaharlal Nehru is arrested for civil disobedience |
| 1921 AD | Only 13% of Indian men and 1.8% of Indian women can read and write |
| 1921 AD | 156,000 British citizens rule over 306 million Indian subjects |
| 1922 AD | Gandhi is imprisoned following terrorist acts against the British |
| 1923 AD | Britain recognises Nepal's independence |
| 1927 AD | Maulana Muhammad Ilyas founds in India the Tablighi, up a missionary movement to spread orthodox Islam worldwide |
| 1930 AD | Allama Iqbal calls for a separate homeland for the Muslims |
| 1930 AD | Gandhi unleashes "civil disobedience" against the British |
| 1933 AD | The 13th Dalai Lama of Tibet dies |
| 1933 AD | The term Pakistan is coined to denote the country of Punjabi, Afghani, Kashmiri, Sini and Baluchistani people |
| 1937 AD | First elections are held, won by Congress |
| 1940 AD | Tenzin Gyatso becomes the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet |
| 1942 AD | Nehru replaced Gandhi as the recognized leader of the National Congress party |
| 1944 AD | Gandhi is released from prison |
| 1947 AD | Lord Mountbatten announces the partition of the colony in two independent countries, India and Pakistan |
| 1947 AD | One million people die in communal violence due to the partition |
| 1947 AD | Following rioting by the Muslim majority in Kashmir, Pakistani troops attack India and occupy part of Kashmir |
| 1947 AD | Jawaharlal Nehru becomes the first prime minister of India |
| 1947 AD | Tibet requests India to return land annexed by India as part of several Indian states |
| 1948 AD | Mahatma Gandhi is assassinated by a Hindu extremist |
| 1948 AD | Muhammed Ali Jinnah, the prime minister of Pakistan, dies and is succeeded by Liaquat Ali Khan |
| 1948 AD | India refuses to allow the plebiscite in Kashmir and Kashmir separatism is born (40,000 people will die in 55 years) |
| 1948 AD | Ceylon becomes independent and the government of Don Stephen Senanayake revokes the citizenship of the Tamil minority |
| 1949 AD | To quell an uprising, India invades the independent country of Sikkim |
| 1949 AD | India signs a treaty with Bhutan to conduct its foreign policy |
| 1950 AD | Mao's China invades Tibet |
| 1951 AD | Pakistan's leader Liaquat Ali Khan is assassinated, while general Muhammad Ayub Khan is appointed chief of the army |
| 1952 AD | India holds the first general elections, won by the Congress Party |
| 1954 AD | The USA becomes the main provider of military goods and training for Pakistan |
| 1955 AD | Polygamy is abolished in India |
| 1956 AD | Pakistan enacts a new constitution and becomes an Islamic republic |
| 1956 AD | Prime minister Nehru of India fosters a neutral stance between communism and capitalism and founds the Non-Aligned Movement |
| 1956 AD | The Sinhalese nationalist (and buddhist) party gains power and Solomon Bandaranaike becomes prime minister |
| 1957 AD | India annexes Kashmir |
| 1958 AD | General Ayyub Khan takes over Pakistan's government in a coup |
| 1959 AD | A Tibetan uprising against the Chinese fails in Lhasa and the Dalai Lama flees Tibet (87,000 Tibetans killed) |
| 1959 AD | Solomon Bandaranaike is assassinated by a Buddhist monk and is succeeded by his widow, Sirimavo |
| 1960 AD | King Mahendra seizes power in Nepal |
| 1961 AD | Pakistani president Ayub Khan signs a cooperation pact with the USA to counterbalance Soviet influence in India |
| 1961 AD | India invades the Portuguese colonies of Goa, Daman and Diu |
| 1962 AD | Pakistan signs a border treaty with China |
| 1962 AD | India fights and loses a border war with China in Assam |
| 1963 AD | Kumar Patel invents the laser |
| 1964 AD | Indian prime minister Nehru dies |
| 1965 AD | India and Pakistan fight another war over Kashmir |
| 1966 AD | Indira Gandhi, daughter of Nehru, becomes prime minister of India |
| 1969 AD | Pakistani leader Ayyub Khan is succeeded by another general, Yahya Khan |
| 1970 AD | The secessionist Awami League led by Sheik Mujibur Rahman wins the elections in East Pakistan |
| 1971 AD | Defended by India, East Pakistan separates from West Pakistan and becomes the independent country of Bangladesh under the rule of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman |
| 1971 AD | The Sinhalese Maoist Janata Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) movement foments political riots |
| 1972 AD | King Mahendra of Nepal dies and is succeeded by Birendra |
| 1972 AD | Ceylon changes its name to Sri Lanka and becomes a socialist republic |
| 1973 AD | Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto becomes prime minister of Pakistan |
| 1973 AD | Balochistan rebels against Pakistan |
| 1974 AD | 28,000 people die in floods in Bangladesh |
| 1974 AD | Pakistan recognizes Bangladesh |
| 1974 AD | India detonates an underground nuclear weapon |
| 1974 AD | Sikkim votes overwhelmingly to join India |
| 1975 AD | Bangladesh's leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is assassinated in a military coup led by general Zia Rahman |
| 1975 AD | India annexes Sikkim |
| 1975 AD | Embroiled in scandals, Indira Gandhi declares a state of emergency, under which her political foes are imprisoned, constitutional rights abrogated, and the press placed under censorship |
| 1976 AD | To curb population growth, Indira Gandhi initiates a program of forced sterilization |
| 1976 AD | India's prime minister Indira Gandhi signs a cooperation pact with the Soviet Union |
| 1976 AD | The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam is founded to protect the rights of the Tamil minority and wins the elections in Tamil-dominated regions |
| 1977 AD | Bangladesh enacts a new constitution and becomes an Islamic republic |
| 1977 AD | Pakistan quells the rebellion in Balochistan (after 8,000 people died) |
| 1977 AD | The corrupt government of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto is overthrown by a military coup led by general Zia ul-Haq, a Muslim fundamentalist who reinstates public hangings, death by stoning and public beatings according to Islamic law |
| 1978 AD | The Karakoram Highway linking Pakistan and China is opened, thereby increasing trade and military cooperation between the two countries |
| 1978 AD | Sri Lanka becomes a presidential republic and Junius Richard Jayawardene is appointed president replacing prime minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike with Ranasinghe Premadasa |
| 1978 AD | The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) conducts the first terrorist attack in Sri Lanka |
| 1979 AD | Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto is hanged |
| 1980 AD | US uses Pakistan to help rebels fighting the Soviet Union in Afghanistan |
| 1981 AD | Bangladesh's leader Rahman Zia is assassinated in a military coup |
| 1982 AD | Bangladesh is ruled by general Ershad, an Islamic fundamentalist who eventually declares Islam as the state religion |
| 1983 AD | The Tamil issue becomes a military issue after confrontation between Tamil tigers and the army leaves hundreds dead |
| 1984 AD | While fighting the Sikh secessionist movement of Jarnail Singh Bindranwale, Indian troops enter the holy Sikh shrine of the "Golden Temple" |
| 1984 AD | Indira Gandhi is assassinated by Sikh bodyguards and is succeeded by her son Rajiv |
| 1984 AD | A leak at the Union Carbide pesticides plant in Bhopal causes 14,000 deaths |
| 1985 AD | Sikh militants plant a bomb on an Air India flight out of Canada killing all 329 passengers |
| 1986 AD | India rigs Kashmir elections and Kashmir separatists takes up arms |
| 1987 AD | First suicide bombing by a Tiger in Sri Lanka |
| 1987 AD | India deploys troops in Sri Lanka in a peacekeeping mission |
| 1987 AD | India sends a peace-keeping force to broker a truce between the army and the Tamil tigers (1,200 Indian soldiers will die) |
| 1987 AD | The Tamil Tigers start using suicide bombers |
| 1987 AD | Abdul Wadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's Atomic bomb, begins contacts with Iran to sell nuclear secrets |
| 1988 AD | Political violence claims the lives of thousands in Sri Lanka before and after national elections |
| 1988 AD | An Indian ferry capsizes on the Ganges River, killing over 400 people |
| 1988 AD | Zia, the US ambassador and top Pakistan army officials die in mysterious air crash |
| 1988 AD | Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's daughter Benazir wins the general elections in Pakistan |
| 1988 AD | Millions of people are left homeless during massive floods |
| 1989 AD | Ranasinghe Premadasa is elected president of Sri Lanka |
| 1989 AD | Rajiv Gandhi is the first Indian prime minister to visit Pakistan |
| 1989 AD | Tibetans revolt against the occupying Chinese troops and hundreds are killed |
| 1989 AD | The separatist group Hizbul Mujahideen is founded in India-controlled Kashmir |
| 1990 AD | Indian troops withdrawn from Sri Lanka |
| 1990 AD | Benazir Bhutto is removed from prime minister of Pakistan, on charges of incompetence and corruption, and is succeeded by Nawaz Sharif |
| 1990 AD | Pakistan funds and arms Islamic volunteers to fight the Soviet Union in Afghanistan |
| 1990 AD | Islamic terrorism in Kashmir increases against the Indian occupying troops |
| 1990 AD | Indian troops leave Sri Lanka |
| 1990 AD | the All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) is founded by Lalit Debbarma to fight for Tripura's secession from India |
| 1991 AD | Nepal holds its first democratic elections that herald an age of political instability (eleven governments in eleven years) |
| 1991 AD | The Indian army attacks Sikh strongholds in Punjab killing more than 3,300 civilians |
| 1991 AD | Rajiv Gandhi is assassinated by Tamil separatists and succeeded by Narasimha Rao |
| 1991 AD | In Bangladesh, president Ershad is sentenced to jail for corruption and Begum Khaleda Zia, widow of Zia Rahman, becomes prime minister |
| 1991 AD | A tsunami kills 138,000 people in Bangladesh |
| 1991 AD | India liberalizes its protectionist economy |
| 1992 AD | Hindu extremists destroy a mosque in Ayodhya |
| 1992 AD | Tamil tigers kill dozens of Muslims in Sri Lanka |
| 1993 AD | Muslims and Hindus riot in Bombay (800 people died) |
| 1993 AD | Muslim terrorists detonate several bombs in Mumbai killing 250 people |
| 1993 AD | Benazir Bhutto wins national elections again in Pakistan |
| 1995 AD | Abdul Wadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's Atomic bomb, begins contacts with North Korea to sell nuclear secrets |
| 1993 AD | A bombing campaign by Tamil rebels in Sri Lanka kills even president Premadasa |
| 1993 AD | A bomb destroys the Bombay stock exchange |
| 1994 AD | Muslim separatists plant bombs in Kashmir, killing dozens |
| 1994 AD | Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga is elected president of Sri Lanka and appoints her mother Sirimavo Bandaranaike as prime minister |
| 1995 AD | The Nepal Communist Party begins an armed insurrection in Nepal |
| 1995 AD | Abdul Wadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's Atomic bomb, begins contacts with Libya to sell nuclear secrets |
| 1995 AD | Azam Tariq, a Pakistani Sunny cleric leader of the pro-Taliban party Sipah-i-Sahaba, publicly calls for attacks on Shiites in Pakistan |
| 1996 AD | Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto is removed again on charges of corruption |
| 1996 AD | Pakistan helps the Taliban overthrow the Afghan government |
| 1996 AD | Sheikh Hasina Wajed, the daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, wins the elections in Bangladesh |
| 1996 AD | Tamil rebels bomb the capital of Sri Lanka |
| 1996 AD | The Nationalist Party wins the election and Atal Behari Vajpayee becomes prime minister |
| 1997 AD | The Muslim League wins general elections in Pakistan |
| 1997 AD | Nawaz Sharif is elected prime minister of Pakistan |
| 1998 AD | Pakistan provides North Korea with nuclear technology in exchange for missile technology |
| 1998 AD | India and Pakistan conduct nuclear tests |
| 1998 AD | Massive floods in Bangladesh |
| 1998 AD | 211 die in a train collision in the Punjab |
| 1998 AD | A Muslim fundamentalist, Tablighi Muslim Rafiq Tarar, is elected president of Pakistan |
| 1999 AD | Benazir Bhutto is sentenced to jail in absentia |
| 1999 AD | Escalation of violence in Kashmir between Indian troops and freedom fighters backed by Pakistan |
| 1999 AD | Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif is overthrown in a military coup led by general Pervez Musharraf |
| 1999 AD | A cyclone devastates the Indian state of Orissa killing 10,000 people |
| 1999 AD | 285 die in a train collision near Calcutta |
| 1999 AD | The world's largest Tibetan tangka is completed (a 1,500 square meter, 1,000 kg scroll) |
| 2000 AD | The population of India is one billion |
| 2000 AD | The Tamil leader Velupillai Prabhakaran offers peace talks to the Sri Lankan government |
| 2001 AD | King Birendra of Nepal and his entire family are killed by a crown prince, and Gyanendra becomes the new king |
| 2001 AD | King Gyanendra declares a state of emergency after dozens are killed by Maoists |
| 2001 AD | An earthquakes kills 30,000 people in the Indian state of Gujarat |
| 2001 AD | Skirmishes between the Indian and Bangladeshi armies leave 20 soldiers dead |
| 2001 AD | The Islamic government of Afghanistan destroy the century-old Buddha statues of Bamiyan |
| 2001 AD | Pakistan helps the US fight the Taliban in Afghanistan |
| 2001 AD | Muslim separatists attack the Parliament in New Delhi |
| 2001 AD | Several bombs kill more than 30 people in Bangladesh |
| 2001 AD | Khaleda Zia wins the election in Bangladesh |
| 2001 AD | Ranil Wickremesinghe wins Sri Lanka's elections and becomes prime minister after campaigning on a peace platform |
| 2001 AD | The Kumbh Mela pilgrimage at Allahabad draws at least 20 million pilgrims |
| 2002 AD | Raids by Maoist rebels leave 127 people dead in Nepal |
| 2002 AD | Following the burning of a train by Muslim cleric Maulana Hussain Umarij, ethnic rioting erupts in Gujarat that kills 1,000 people, mainly Muslims |
| 2002 AD | Peace talks begin between Sri Lanka's prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and the Tamil rebels (the civil war has killed over 64,000 people) |
| 2002 AD | Islamic militants increase attacks on Kashmir and other Indian states |
| 2002 AD | The first democratic elections are held in Pakistan since 1999 and Zafarullah Khan Jamali becomes prime minister |
| 2003 AD | Islamic terrorists attack a Shiite mosque and kill nine people |
| 2003 AD | Islamic terrorists execute up 24 Hindu civilians in Kashmir |
| 2003 AD | India vaccinates 165 million children to eradicate polio |
| 2003 AD | Tripura separatist rebels kill 22 Bengali villagers |
| 2003 AD | Members of the Sunni terrorist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi kill eleven police officers of the Shia community in Baluchistan, Pakistan |
| 2003 AD | A ferry capzised in Bangladesh killing over 400 people |
| 2003 AD | 34 people are killed by separatists in northeastern India |
| 2003 AD | 46 people are killed in two bomb attacks in Bombay by the Islamic group "Students Islamic Movement of India" (SIMI) |
| 2003 AD | Azam Tariq, a Pakistani Sunny cleric leader of the pro-Taliban party Sipah-i-Sahaba, is killed |
| 2003 AD | Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf survives two assassination attempts |
| 2004 AD | Pakistan's top nuclear scientist, Abdul Qadeer Khan, confesses on tv that he helped Iran, Libya and North Korea acquire nuclear technology |
| 2004 AD | The war between Maoist rebels and the Nepalese army leaves hundreds of people dead |
| 2004 AD | The party of Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga wins elections in Sri Lanka against the party of prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Mahinda Rajapakse is appointed prime minister |
| 2004 AD | Pakistan carries out a 12-day military offensive in South Waziristan on the border with Afghanistan to dislodge Al Waeda and Taliban fighters |
| 2004 AD | Despite an economic boom, a third of Indians live on less than a dollar a day |
| 2004 AD | the Congress Party wins national elections but its leader, Italian-born Sonia Gandhi, lets Manmohan Singh, a Sikh, become India's new prime minister |
| 2004 AD | Bangalore has 150,000 software engineers, more than the Silicon Valley in California |
| 2004 AD | 29 Indians are killed in Kashmir by a bomb planted by Islamic separatists |
| 2004 AD | A ferry sinks in Bangladesh killing about 160 people |
| 2004 AD | 43 Shiite Muslims are killed during a religious festival in Pakistan by Sunni extremists of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (march) and a bomb blast kills 15 people at a Shia mosque in Karachi (may) in retaliation for the killing of a top Sunni Muslim cleric, Mufti Nizamuddin Shamzai |
| 2004 AD | Bomb blasts at a Sunni gathering kill 39 people in Pakistan and bomb blasts at a Shia mosque kill 19 |
| 2004 AD | Maoist rebels control 68 of Nepal's 75 districts |
| 2004 AD | Ten people are killed in a bomb blast in Quetta, Pakistan |
| 2004 AD | Tsunamis caused by one of the strongest earthquakes in history (9.0 magnitude) kill thousands in Southeast Asia |
| 2005 AD | More than 30 people are killed in a bomb blast at the Fatehpu shrine in Pakistan |
| 2005 AD | China and India sign a treaty in which China gives up any claim on the state of Sikkim |
| 2005 AD | A bomb blast at a Muslim shrine in Pakistan's capital Islamabad kills at least 20 people |
| 2005 AD | Rebels throw rockets at president Musharraf in Balochistan |
| 2005 AD | An bomb by Hizbul Mujahideen kills nine Indian soldiers in Kashmir |
| 2005 AD | Pakistan expels foreign Islamic students, who frequently support terrorism |
| 2005 AD | Pakistan launches its first long-range nuclear-capable missile and its first cruise missile |
| 2005 AD | Sri Lankan foreign minister Lakshman Kadirgamar is assassinated by members of the Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam (LTTE) |
| 2005 AD | 350 bombs planted by Islamic fundamentalists of Jamayetul Mujahedin detonate in Bangladesh |
| 2005 AD | Tamil Tiger rebels in Sri Lanka agree to hold direct talks with the government |
| 2005 AD | Asif Chotto, head of the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi that killed hundreds of Pakistani shiites, is arrested |
| 2005 AD | Bombs set by Kashmiri militants of Lashkar-e-Toiba kill 59 people in New Delhi |
| 2005 AD | Maoists (Naxalites) kill 24 police officers in India |
| 2005 AD | Muslims in Sangla Hill (Punjab) destroy two Catholic churches and two schools because they think that someone has burned a copy of the Quran |
| 2005 AD | Sri Lanka's prime minister Mahinda Rajapakse wins presidential elections |
| 2005 AD | Seven people are killed by Islamic terrorists of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen in Bangladesh, the first suicide bombing in the country's history |
| 2005 AD | 900 people are killed in 2005 in violence related to the Maoist insurgency of the Naxalites |
| 2006 AD | 23 shiites are killed by a suicide bomber in Pakistan |
| 2006 AD | Maoists (Naxalites) kill 25 people in India |
| 2006 AD | Bangladesh arrests Abdur Rahman, leader of terrorist organization Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen |
| 2006 AD | The USA and India sign a nuclear agreement |
| 2006 AD | Bombs kill more than 20 people in Varanasi |
| 2006 AD | 25 Muslims are killed in Pakistan during fights between rival factions |
| 2006 AD | 47 people are killed in a suspected suicide bomb attack at a Sunni religious gathering in Karachi, Pakistan |
| 2006 AD | Massive pro-democracy protests in Nepal |
| 2006 AD | Islamists kill 35 hindus in Kashmir |
| 2006 AD | Tamil Tiger rebels sink a Sri Lanka navy gunboat in a sea battle that leaves at least 45 people dead |
| 2006 AD | 58 people die when a bus hits a landmine in Sri Lanka |
| 2006 AD | Pakistan kills 25 Baloch rebels of Nawab Akbar Bugti's militia |
| 2006 AD | Multiple terrorist bombs in Mumbai kill more than 200 people |
| 2006 AD | Government troops and Tamil Tiger rebels fight on three fronts in Sri Lanka despite the 2002 ceasefire agreement |
