The first of the major Asian civilizations to fall victim
to European predatory activities was India. The first organized
society had emerged in the Indus River valley
in the fourth and third millennia b.c.e. After the influx
of Aryan peoples into the Indian subcontinent around
1500 b.c.e., a new civilization, based on sedentary agriculture
and a regional trade network, gradually emerged
in north central India. The unity of the subcontinent was
first established by the empire of the Mauryas in the third
century b.c.e. Although the Mauryan state eventually
collapsed, it had laid the foundation for the creation of a
technologically advanced and prosperous civilization,
and its concept of political unity was later reasserted by
the Guptas, who ruled the region for nearly two hundred
years until they too were overthrown in about 500 c.e.
Under the Guptas, Hinduism, a religious faith brought to
the subcontinent by the Aryan people, evolved into the
dominant religion of the Indian people.
Beginning in the eleventh century, much of northern
India fell under the rule of Turkic-speaking people who
penetrated into the subcontinent from the northwest and
introduced the people in the area to the Islamic religion
and civilization. At the end of the fifteenth century, they
were succeeded by the Mughals, a powerful new force
from the mountains to the north. The Mughal rulers,
though foreigners and Muslims like many of their immediate
predecessors, nevertheless brought India to a level
of political power and cultural achievement that inspired
admiration and envy throughout the entire region.
In the eighteenth century, however, the dynasty began
to weaken as Hindu forces in southern India sought to
challenge the authority of the Mughal court in Delhi.
This process of fragmentation was probably hastened by
the growing presence of European traders, who began to
establish enclaves along the fringes of the subcontinent.
Eventually, the British and the French began to seize control
of the regional trade routes and to meddle in India’s
internal politics. By the end of the century, nothing remained
of the empire but a shell. Into the vacuum left by
its final decay stepped the British, who used a combination
of modern firepower and guile to consolidate their
power over the subcontinent.
World History
