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The changing map of Indo-Pak from 1 AD to the 20th century

ghazi52

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The changing map of India from 1 AD to the 20th century

Battles were fought, territories were drawn and re-drawn. An amateur historian has caught these shifts in a series of maps.

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India’s history is speckled with the ruins of empires. Kingdoms have periodically risen here, expanded and fallen, reshaping with them the region’s culture and identity.

Amateur historian Thomas Lessman, who has been researching world history for over 20 years, has created a series of maps of India showing these shifts from 1 AD till the rule of the Delhi Sultanate. On his website Lessman says he “became frustrated while researching history because it's hard to find great maps. The best maps are in books that cost more than I make in a week... So I realised if I want free World History Maps, I’d have to make them myself”.

The maps provide a vivid history tour. They start from the time the Sakas or Indo-Scythians firmly established their presence in India.

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The Indo-Parthian and Indo-Synthian era: 1 AD


Indo-Greeks ruled India for over two centuries, during which time the fusion of Indian and Hellenistic influences flourished. This map shows the Indo-Parthian rule and the Indo-Synthian kingdom. The Indo-Scythians were descendents of the Scythians who had migrated from southern Siberia and displaced the Indo-Greeks.


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The Kushan Empire: 100 AD


The Kushan Empire was founded under Kujula Kadphises but it was under his grandson, the Buddhist emperor Kanishka, that it reached its peak. Kanishka expanded the kingdom till as far as Varanasi and captured areas in present-day China.


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The Gupta and Huna Empire – 400 - 500 AD


This was the period of the domination of the Gupta Empire, referred to by some as the Golden Age of India. During this time, literature, art, astronomy and math flourished in the region and much of the subcontinent was unified under one kingdom. The Huna Empire extended from parts of eastern Iran to northwestern India. This proximity is the reason why, some believe, the Huna tribe finds a mention in the Mahabharata.





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After the collapse of the Gupta Empire, a minor line of the clan ruled in Magadha. Down south, the Kalabhras kingdom crumbled.



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The Chalukyas ruled southern and central India from the 6th century to the 12th century. Kannada and Telugu literature thrived in this era, as did Chalukyan architecture. In the north, the Chachas dynasty began ruling over Sindh by 700 AD.

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The Gurjar-Pratihara dynasty, in 900 AD, spread its kingdom from Rajasthan to the east in India. Meanwhile, the Deccan was under the Rashtrakuta dynasty.


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The Ghaznavid Empire gradually moved in and conquered India and later the Delhi Sultanate, a Delhi-based Muslim kingdom that stretched over large parts of India from 1206–1526, the fall of which eventually led to the Mughal rule in the country.
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By 1500 AD, the Rajput states had established their presence. The Vijayanagar Empire in the south was still strong.
 
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I remember during early days of Pakistan, some people still celebrated 'Baisakhi' which used to fall end March /early April. Savan is normally start of the rainy season which starts on July 1st. It is probably still Savan or may be Bhadon/Badra have just started.
 
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I remember during early days of Pakistan, some people still celebrated 'Baisakhi' which used to fall end March /early April. Savan is normally start of the rainy season which starts on July 1st. It is probably still Savan or may be Bhadon/Badra have just started.

That's interesting but it may have been stopped when Pakistan politics went right wing under Zia.

Vaisakhi is celebrated by Sikhs as a remembrance of the foundation of the Khalsa Sikh order which started after the ninth Guru Tegh Bahadur was persecuted and then beheaded under the orders of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, after he stood up for freedom of religious practice and refused to convert to Islam.



That's okay. Rules are meant to be broken (Indians excluded :D )
 
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British Crown India Empire -1909, total population incl. Burma) 330 million


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1948 total population (India,Pakistan, Bangladesh) less than 400 million.
2018 total population: 1.3 B, 210 m, 170 m = 1,680,000,000
 
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