The Story of India: The Story of India is a BBC documentary series written and presented by historian Michael Wood. This series encapsulates the history of India. Like other great civilizations – Greece or Egypt, for example – it has enjoyed not just one, but several brilliant golden ages in art and culture over the millennia. Its great thinkers and religious leaders have permanently changed the face of the globe. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The history of India is a ten thousand year old epic, but for over two millennia India has been at the center of world history. It saw successive invasions from Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan to Tamburlaine and the English, all of whom left their mark but ultimately succumbed to India itself. All this time India has been famous for its spiritual traditions; it gave birth to two world religions, one of which, Buddhism, has had a profound impact on all of East Asia, China, Japan and Korea, and in modern times has also found roots in the United States and Europe. The subcontinent is home to one of the world's greatest - and least understood - artistic traditions and an extraordinary spectrum of music, dance and literature. India has been the birthplace of some of the most extraordinary figures in world history, including the Buddha, the Maurya emperor Ashoka and the Mughal emperor Akbar the Great, not to mention the likes of Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi. In this documentary Michael Wood traces the exploration of human origin migration to India from Africa, the height of ancient Indian civilization during the Indus Valley Civilization period from 3300 to 1900 BC, the rise of Buddhism, Alexander the Great's incursion into India, the rule of the Mauryas, the silk routes and spice trade during the Kushan era after their invasion, the decorated Cholan rule, the Muslim entry into the Indian subcontinent and finally the British Raj . The Indus Valley Civilization and Climate Change The Indus Valley Civilization was an ancient civilization found in Pakistan and today in northwestern India, in and around the fertile floodplain of the Indus River. The Indus Valley Civilization, however, was the epitome of India's medieval history because it inhabited 2 to 5 million residents along the banks of the Indus River between 3300 BC and 1900 BC. Two cities, in particular, have been excavated at the sites of Mohenjo-Daro, in the lower Indus, and at Harappa, further upstream. Evidence suggests that they had a highly developed city life; many houses had wells and baths, as well as an elaborate underground drainage system. The sites recovered at Mohenjo-daro and Harappa provide clear evidence of large urban populations practicing then-sophisticated techniques such as sculpture, trade, metal use, and drainage systems. The reason for its phasing out still remains unfounded, but has mainly been attributed to the shifting flow of the river. In 1800 BC, the Indus Valley Civilization saw the beginning of its decline: writing began to disappear, standardized weights and measures were used. for commercial and fiscal purposes they fell into disuse, the connection with the Near East was interrupted and some cities were progressively abandoned. Climate change in medieval times may have moved civilization eastward in search of riverbanks, jeopardizing its survival. The reasons for this decline are not entirely clear, but it is believed that the drying up of the Saraswati River, a process that had begun around 1900 BC, was the main cause. Other experts speak of a major flood in the area.Both events would have had catastrophic effects on agricultural activity, making the economy no longer sustainable and destroying the civic order of the cities. This climate change had an important role to play in shaping Indian civilization because if it had not been soIf it had happened, the city would have flourished and perhaps could have continued its technological advancements, making India the sustained center of all global trade . The Maurya empire was founded by Chandragupta Maurya and lasted from 300 BC to 200 BC Chandragupta Maurya was influenced by Alexander the Great and started building a huge empire. The warrior that he was, he conquered more than three-quarters of ancient India. The next significant Maurya was Ashoka, grandson of Chandragupta. Ashoka, as suggested in the documentary, was initially a purveyor of violence and a tyrannical ruler. Later, after the Battle of Kalinga, he converted to Buddhism and adopted peace. This is especially important in shaping ancient Indian civilization because it was the first attempt to transform India into a unified state. Contact and exchange formed the basis of discoveries in ancient times, and trade was a major facilitator of this contact. India was a major trading partner in the Mediterranean. It is said that three things – a weed, a grass and the larva of a beetle – were what drove the Romans and Greeks to seek the riches of India. Voyages to discover India began in Roman and Greek times, a feat that is overshadowed by figures in modern history such as Vasco Da Gama and Columbus. Hippalus, an old Greek sea captain, documented his journey to India in a guidebook, with a refined and keen knowledge of all the ports along the coast of India. Contact with India began with the discovery of monsoons. Hippalus found that around the time of June, strong southwest monsoon winds began to blow towards the Indian peninsula, causing the sea to become heavy and making the region dangerous. But with strong enough ships, one could ride the force of these winds out of the Red Sea, eventually leading all the way to India. As these winds retreated, the northeast monsoon winds would help you return in the opposite direction. Thus, the discovery of the monsoon alone was probably the most important discovery of the era that brought the Romans and Greeks to the coast of India. And Kerala's Spice Coast was what they mostly came for. The Romans loved Indian spices: pepper, ginger, coriander, etc. But all the Indians could ask the Romans were ingots: gold, silver, tin, antimony, etc. Tamil poems also mention Romans and Greeks exchanging gold for pearls and fabrics. Pashmina shawls were a favorite among the Romans. The establishment of the Silk Road began a new chapter in India's economy. The Silk Road began as a confederation of tribes called Kushans. The Kushans adopted Buddhism and financed their religious propaganda by controlling trade on the Silk Road. They were among the first to adopt the use of a legal contract for disputes along the Silk Road. Kainshka, the king of the Kushans, and the inscription, Surkh Kotal, constitute the tribe's most important contribution. The inscription details the king's exploits and the extent of his power across India. The Khyber Pass was an important trade route connecting India and Central Asia. Under the Kushans the economy and trade prospered and minted coins were soon introduced. The capital of the Kushans was the city of Peshawar in Pakistan, since then a caravan city, whose main source of income was ancient Silk Road contacts. Peshawar was a meeting point for all traders along the Silk Road, the most cargorich among which transported on camels was Chinese silk artfully woven by Indian weavers. At the height of the Kusha Empire, you could witness the mixing of different civilizations: the Greeks, the Romans, the Bactrians, the Persians and the Chinese. All this was a direct result of the opening of the Silk Road and the contact of civilizations between the Mediterranean and the Indian peninsula. However, the most important legacy of the Kushans was their control of the propagation of Silk Road Buddhism in China and Tibet. The Mahmud of Ghazni was the first incursion of the Muslim Mughals into India. This led to the first confrontation of a Hindu state with the Mughals. Attracted by the peace, non-unity and riches of India, he invaded India 17 times and plundered to his heart's content. He was most famous for stealing gold from temples and razing them to the ground on his way to basking in monetary glory. He desecrated the sacred statues in the Somnath temple and also completely destroyed the temple. He was despised throughout the Hindu heart as he undertook to plunder India at least once a year and the lack of resistance to his multiple incursions made it extremely easy for him to accomplish his task. Since the Cholas protected the south, the lack of a protector in the North was the main reason behind this. As is evident even today, violence combined with the completely different religions of Islam and Hinduism could not find compatibility. The subsequent Mughals landed in India through the Khyber Pass. The Battle of Panipat in 1526 marked the formal beginning of the Mughal kingdom in India as Babur claimed the throne in India. Akbar was a key figure in the Mughal government because he was tolerant of all religions. The ignorant ruler who ascended the throne in India only because his father fell to his death from the footsteps of his library. He was sharp and continued to expand his empire across India and ensure that the people under his reign were happy. He even abolished the religious tax on Hindus and organized surprise incognito visits to markets to check for hoarding and other illicit practices. Their rule ended with the advent of the English and they were finally punished for wasting precious resources in capturing the Deccan. However, according to documents, they ruled the subcontinent from 1526 to 1857 and managed to manage such a vast empire without too many problems thanks to the decentralization of power. The empire was run by the concept of Mansabdars. It was a hierarchical system and had a local ruler for each area. Depending on the rank of the Mansabdar he would get a salary, status and military might to protect his borders. They were also subject to criminal prosecution if anyone interfered with the system for their own benefit, essentially taking care of the agency problem. They should have been in charge of collecting taxes and sending them to the emperor in Delhi. The English The English landed in India in the 17th century and were initially traders, but over time they built forts in India and increased their influence over the local inhabitants. The Battle of Plassey marked the formal entry of the English. They learned from the Mughals how to allow the locals to rule as they knew the agency problem, even though conflicts of interest could arise again. Then they took control of the colonies themselves. The British East India Company was the world's first multinational company and is also accused of plundering India's riches. They initially wanted fabrics and other finished products from India, but when Clive introduced the idea of ​​obtaining taxes from the Indians, they no longer wanted to demand ingots from the expensive Spanish ports of South America. They slowly began to tax India and set taxes at 1790 levels, when manufacturing.