🌏 India and the World
Five thousand years of links
Trade with Mesopotamia and Rome, Buddhism’s journey across Asia, travellers from China, Morocco and France, colonial rule, and India’s relations since independence — every link from an NCERT chapter. Click a country on the map.
Maps show India’s boundaries as officially depicted by the Government of India. Country shapes are today’s, for orientation only.
Every link, oldest first
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Harappan times🚢 Trade
Meluhha, Dilmun and Magan
Mesopotamian texts mention contact with Dilmun (probably Bahrain), Magan and Meluhha — possibly the Harappan region; weights found in Dilmun followed the Harappan standard.
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Harappan times🚢 Trade
Harappans in Afghanistan
Harappan finds reach as far as Afghanistan, and traces of canals survive at the Harappan site of Shortughai there.
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Mid-first millennium BCE☸ Religion & ideas
An age of great thinkers
The same age saw Zarathustra in Iran, Kong Zi (Confucius) in China, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle in Greece, and Mahavira and the Buddha in India.
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From the sixth century BCE🚢 Trade
Routes across land and sea
Land and river routes crossed the subcontinent and ran overland into Central Asia and beyond, and by sea across the Arabian Sea to East and North Africa and West Asia.
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Mauryan period👑 Rulers & empires
Greek accounts of the Mauryas
Megasthenes, a Greek ambassador, lived at Chandragupta Maurya's court; Greek sources say the Mauryan army had 600,000 foot-soldiers. Mauryan control reached as far northwest as Afghanistan.
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Asoka's reign🎨 Art & culture
Asoka's edicts in Greek and Aramaic
In Afghanistan, Asoka's inscriptions were written in the Aramaic and Greek scripts.
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c. second century BCE👑 Rulers & empires
The Indo-Greeks
The Indo-Greeks, who ruled the northwest, issued the first coins bearing rulers' names and images.
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c. first century BCE – first century CE👑 Rulers & empires
Shakas and Kushanas
The Shakas, a people of Central Asian origin, set up kingdoms in the northwest and west; the Kushanas ruled a vast kingdom from Central Asia to northwest India.
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Kushana period👑 Rulers & empires
“Son of god”
Many Kushana rulers took the title devaputra, ‘son of god’ — possibly inspired by Chinese rulers who called themselves sons of heaven.
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c. first century CE🚢 Trade
Gold coins like Rome's and Persia's
Kushana gold coins were close in weight to those of the Roman emperors and the Parthian rulers of Iran.
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Early centuries CE🚢 Trade
Roman coins in south India
Hoards of Roman coins have been found in south India: it was not part of the Roman Empire, but close trade connected them.
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c. first century CE🚢 Trade
The Periplus
An anonymous Greek sailor's Periplus of the Erythraean Sea describes foreign ships trading on the Malabar coast.
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Over the centuries☸ Religion & ideas
Buddhism travels
The Buddha's message spread through Central Asia to China, Korea and Japan, and through Sri Lanka across the seas to Myanmar, Thailand and Indonesia.
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c. 5th and 7th centuries🧭 Travellers
Fa Xian and Xuan Zang
As Buddhism spread to East Asia, pilgrims such as Fa Xian and Xuan Zang travelled all the way from China to India in search of texts.
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Manuscript tradition🎨 Art & culture
Mahabharata manuscripts in Nepal
Sanskrit manuscripts of the Mahabharata were found all over the subcontinent, from Kashmir and Nepal in the north to Kerala and Tamil Nadu in the south.
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Eleventh century🧭 Travellers
Al-Biruni from Uzbekistan
Al-Biruni, born in Khwarizm in present-day Uzbekistan, wrote the Kitab-ul-Hind about the subcontinent.
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Indo-Islamic period🎨 Art & culture
Persian and Turkish influences in building
Indo-Islamic buildings show Saracenic, Persian and Turkish influences, yet were heavily shaped by Indian architectural and decorative forms.
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By the thirteenth century🚢 Trade
Indian indigo in Europe
By the thirteenth century, Indian indigo was used by cloth makers in Italy, France and Britain to dye cloth.
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Fourteenth century🧭 Travellers
Ibn Battuta from Morocco
Ibn Battuta of Morocco travelled through north Africa, West Asia and Central Asia before reaching India in 1332–33, and wrote his Rihla.
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Fourteenth century🚢 Trade
Indian goods in demand abroad
Ibn Battuta noted that Indian manufactures were in great demand in West Asia and Southeast Asia; ikat weaving patterns were adopted in Southeast Asia too.
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1466–72🧭 Travellers
Afanasii Nikitin from Russia
The Russian traveller Afanasii Nikitin spent the years 1466–72 in India.
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About 1500🧭 Travellers
The Portuguese arrive
The Portuguese arrived on the west coast in about 1500, set up trading and military stations, and wrote accounts of Indian society — Duarte Barbosa among them.
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Mughal period🚢 Trade
Overland trade with Afghanistan
Tribes such as the Lohanis in the Punjab carried on overland trade between India and Afghanistan.
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After 1600🧭 Travellers
Dutch, English and French travellers
After 1600, growing numbers of Dutch, English and French travellers came to India.
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Mughal period🚢 Trade
Ships to Pegu, Siam and Ceylon
A seventeenth-century account describes ships carrying goods of ‘Indostan’ every year to Pegu and Tanasserri (Myanmar), Siam (Thailand), Ceylon and the Maldives.
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Seventeenth century🧭 Travellers
Bernier and Tavernier
The French physician François Bernier wrote about Mughal India; the French jeweller Jean-Baptiste Tavernier travelled to India at least six times.
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Before 1765👑 Rulers & empires
Gold and silver from Britain
Before 1765 the East India Company bought goods in India by importing gold and silver from Britain.
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After 1857👑 Rulers & empires
The last Mughal exiled to Rangoon
After 1857 the last Mughal ruler, Bahadur Shah II, was deposed by the British and exiled to Rangoon (Yangon, Myanmar).
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Nineteenth century☸ Religion & ideas
Phule and the fight against slavery
Jyotirao Phule linked the condition of the ‘lower’ castes in India with that of Black slaves in America, honouring those who fought to free them.
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1893–1915🤝 Treaties & diplomacy
Gandhi in South Africa
In 1895 Gandhi and other Indians founded the Natal Congress in South Africa to fight racial discrimination; he returned to India in 1915.
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30 October 1945🤝 Treaties & diplomacy
India joins the United Nations
India joined the UN on 30 October 1945, among its original members.
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1950s–60s🤝 Treaties & diplomacy
Non-alignment
In the Cold War India kept away from the military alliances led by the US and the Soviet Union, following a policy of non-alignment.
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1954🤝 Treaties & diplomacy
Panchsheel
India and China signed the Panchsheel agreement in 1954; through it India accepted China's claim over Tibet.
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1 November 1954🤝 Treaties & diplomacy
French settlements join India
France's possessions in India were transferred de facto to the Indian Union, and Puducherry became a Union Territory.
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1956🤝 Treaties & diplomacy
The Suez crisis
When Britain attacked Egypt over the Suez Canal in 1956, India led the world protest against this neo-colonial invasion.
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October 1960🤝 Treaties & diplomacy
Leaders of the Non-Aligned Movement
Nehru, Nkrumah of Ghana, Nasser of Egypt, Sukarno of Indonesia and Tito of Yugoslavia formed the core leadership of the Non-Aligned Movement.
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1960🤝 Treaties & diplomacy
The Indus Waters Treaty
With the World Bank's help, India and Pakistan signed the Indus Waters Treaty, which has survived despite later conflicts.
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1962⚔ Wars & conflicts
Border conflict with China
India and China fought a border conflict in 1962 over competing claims, mainly in Arunachal Pradesh and the Aksai Chin region of Ladakh.
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1965–66⚔ Wars & conflicts
The 1965 war and Tashkent
India and Pakistan fought a war in 1965 and signed the Tashkent Agreement in 1966.
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August 1971🤝 Treaties & diplomacy
Indo-Soviet Treaty of Friendship
India and the Soviet Union signed a Treaty of Friendship for 20 years.
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December 1971⚔ Wars & conflicts
The liberation of Bangladesh
The India–Pakistan war of December 1971 ended with the surrender of Pakistani forces in East Pakistan and the birth of Bangladesh.
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1972🤝 Treaties & diplomacy
The Simla Agreement
India and Pakistan signed the Simla Agreement in 1972.
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December 1985🤝 Treaties & diplomacy
SAARC is founded
South Asian leaders signed the SAARC Charter at the first summit in Dhaka.
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1987🤝 Treaties & diplomacy
Indo-Sri Lanka Accord
India and Sri Lanka signed an accord, and the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) was sent to Sri Lanka.
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November 1988🤝 Treaties & diplomacy
Help for the Maldives
When mercenaries attacked the Maldives, India's air force and navy responded quickly to the Maldives' request for help.
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1988🤝 Treaties & diplomacy
No attacks on nuclear installations
India and Pakistan agreed not to attack each other's nuclear installations and facilities.
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Since the early 1990s🤝 Treaties & diplomacy
Look East, Act East
India's ‘Look East’ policy (since the early 1990s) and ‘Act East’ policy (since 2014) brought closer economic ties with ASEAN, China, Japan and South Korea.
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December 1996🤝 Treaties & diplomacy
The Farakka Treaty
India and Bangladesh signed the Farakka Treaty for sharing the Ganga waters.
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December 1998🤝 Treaties & diplomacy
India–Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement
India and Sri Lanka signed a Free Trade Agreement.
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1999⚔ Wars & conflicts
The Lahore bus and Kargil
Prime Minister Vajpayee took a bus to Lahore in February 1999 to sign a peace declaration; the Kargil conflict followed in June–July.
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2001🤝 Treaties & diplomacy
Strategic partnership with Russia
More than 80 agreements have been signed between India and Russia as part of the Indo-Russian Strategic Agreement of 2001.
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2007🤝 Treaties & diplomacy
Afghanistan joins SAARC
Afghanistan became a member of SAARC.
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Today🤝 Treaties & diplomacy
A special relationship with Bhutan
India has a very special relationship with Bhutan, is involved in big hydroelectric projects there, and is its biggest source of development aid.
Nothing matches these filters.
International organisations
- 30 October 1945 — India joins the United Nations
- 1950s–60s — Non-alignment
- October 1960 — Leaders of the Non-Aligned Movement
- December 1985 — SAARC is founded
- 2007 — Afghanistan joins SAARC
- Since the early 1990s — Look East, Act East
Countries by region
How we check: each link is written from a passage in the linked NCERT chapter (one from the Government of Puducherry’s page), and our build fails unless key phrases from that passage are found in the chapter’s own text. Where sources differ on a date, only what they agree on is given.