Contributions India Has Made Towards History, Research Paper Example

The contributions of India to its history can be categorized into the pre-colonial period and the republic period. The pre-colonial period of south Asian and India comprises of the following events during the time periods: Stone Age, Iron Age, classical period, late medieval period, early modern period, regional states and the colonial. The Stone Age was between 7000-1300 BCE and it includes the Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic periods in South Asia. In South India, Mesolithic period lasted till 3000BCE and the neothilic lasted until 1400 BCE, followed by the megalithic period which came before the Bronze Age. In Pakistan, it was different since the neotholic lasted till the beginning of the Bronze Age[1]. The Iron Age in India came after the Late Harappan tradition[2]. The main Iron Age cultures in India are: Painted Grey Ware culture that lasted between 100 to 350 BC and the Northern Black Polished Warer that lasted 700 to 200 BC.

The classical period focuses on the politics in India from the 3^rd century BC after the Maurya Empire which later declined. At this time India was known to have the largest economy, one fourth of the world wealth. The medieval ages in India lasted between 1206 to 1596 CE and it comprised of the early middle ages of India. However, the early modern period of the modern history closely followed the late middle ages despite the chronological events and the time span of the periods. With all these historical periods, the Mughal Empire was the most dominant power in India, mainly between mid-26^th century and early 18^th century. This empire has made various contributions towards the culture of India. It brought about a centralized, imperialistic government that brought the small kingdoms together and developed the Mughal cuisine. The Persian art and culture integrated into the Indian art as new trade routed to Arab and Turkic were formed. Landscaping gardens was encouraged and the Mughal Architecture was incorporated into Indian Architecture mainly in Rajputs and Sikh.

The republic period involves the history of the modern India which is a series of events, both political and economic. Republic of India began on 26^th January 1950; it became independent and got a new constitution since India was now established as a secular and democratic state. Three years earlier, the country became a dominion within the British Commonwealth. The country was characterized with a series of events after independence including the partitioning of India and its integration, the states reorganization[3] and the various foreign policies and military conflicts. A series of wars took place after Independence: Indo- Pakistani War (1947)[4], Sino-Indian War (1962), Indo Pakistani War (1965) and Kargil War (1999)[5]. This events show the political contributions towards the history of India.

Notes:

[1] Pre-historic era: Stone Age and Bronze Age

[2] harappan tradition was also known as the Indus Valley Tradition

[3] The old states were dissolved and new states created on the lines of shared linguistic and ethnic demographics

[4] Third in four wars that was between Pakistan and Bangladesh over the Independence of East Pakistan

[5] Was between India and Pakistan because of the infiltration of Pakistan soldiers and Kashmiri militants into India’s territory.