Empires of India, The: The History of the Dynasties that Ruled India Before the British

When one thinks of the world’s first cities, Sumer, Memphis, and Babylon are some of the first to come to mind, but if the focus then shifts to India, then Harappa and Mohenjo-daro will likely come up. These cities owe their existence to India’s oldest civilization, known as the Indus Valley Civilization or the Harappan Civilization, which was contemporary with ancient Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt and had extensive contacts with the former, making it one of the most important early civilizations in the world. The dynasty that came to power in the late 4th century BCE is known today as the Mauryan Dynasty, and although the ruling family was short-lived and their power was ephemeral, its influence resonated for several subsequent centuries and spread as far east as China and into the Hellenistic west. Bactria was the seat of several different kingdoms during the course of many centuries, but none were as successful as the Kushan Empire, the dominant political entity in Central Asia from the early 2nd century BCE until the early 3rd century CE, during which time the Kushan rulers played a major role in the first iteration of the trade networks known collectively as the Silk Road. From 1206 to 1526, the Delhi Sultanate controlled all of northern India and, during its apogee of power, nearly all of the Sub-Continent, making it one of the most impressive empires not only in India’s long history, but also in the history of Islam. The Delhi Sultanate was comprised of five dynasties that expanded their borders, and Islam, at sword point, but also through diplomacy and trade. The Mughals, a group with Turkish and Mongolian roots, adopted elements of Islamic culture and meshed them with native Indian culture and even Western European culture. When the British conquered India in the mid-19th century, they had the benefit of inheriting the Mughal system, a suitable template for rule over a land as vast and diverse as India.