 Islam spread to Persia and Afghanistan around 700 C.E. From there Muslim kingdoms conquered Hindu Kingdoms in northern India.  Tensions between Hindus and Muslims when some rulers tore down Hindu temples.

 Built by Shah Jahan in 1631 as a mausoleum to his dead wife.  Made of white marble  Islamic design  In today’s money would have cost 20 million dollars to build

Hired by Portugal to find a water route to the East Set sail 1497 reached the port of Calicut India in st European to establish DIRECT trade with Asia. Ex

 British India in 1700  British India in 1800

 In 1600s British and other Europeans came to India to set up trading forts.  British East India Co wanted to trade in rare and expensive goods like pepper, cinnamon, ivory, vanilla, sugar, silks, dyes, gold, saffron

 By 1800s the British had taken over most of India.  Had its own army, taxed the people, set up governments, and exported India’s raw materials back home to be made into finished goods.

 The British built new roads, railroads, telegraphs, schools, hospitals and brought new jobs to India.

The Indians complaints were:  Heavy taxes  Unfair government representation  Had to buy expensive British finished goods  Treated as 2 nd class citizens

 Created to drive the British out of India and create an Independent Hindu country  M.K. Gandhi soon became a leader

 Formed to fight for a separate Muslim nation

The longest Mahatma Gandhi ever fasted was for 21 days, in a hunger strike for Hindu-Muslim unity in September 1924.

Not everyone favoured nonviolence. When World War II broke out in 1939, many Indians wanted to join forces with Britain’s enemies to help throw the British out of the country.

Jawaharlal Nehru is sworn in as India’s first prime minister in a dramatic ceremony marking the end of British rule.

 The partition of India in 1947 led to genocide. Hundreds of thousands of people were massacred and millions had to move; Muslims from India to Pakistan, Hindus/Sikhs in the opposite direction

 Gandhi opposed the division of India and believed all religious groups should be welcomed in India. Gandhi was shot dead while on his way to a prayer meeting by a Hindu fanatic, Nathuram Godse, who resented Gandhi’s concern for Muslims.

After partition India and Pakistan began fighting over Kashmir which is majority Muslim but voted to stay with India. Kashmir lies in the Himalayas and was once a common honeymoon destination.

 Refugees are people who flee their homeland to escape violence.  Today thousands of refugees have fled Kashmir and are living in very poor conditions

 Both India and Pakistan are nuclear countries.  Both countries have come close to war many times. The latest was in 2002.