India Travel Guide 2026

Historical Heritage

India's civilisation is among humanity's oldest and most continuous — a story stretching back 5,000 years that encompasses Bronze Age cities, Sanskrit mathematics, the world's first religions, Islamic empires, and the largest non-violent independence movement in history. The Indus Valley Civilisation (2600–1900 BC) built sophisticated planned cities like Mohenjo-daro with advanced sewage systems before its mysterious collapse. The Vedic period produced Hinduism, Buddhism (founded by Siddhartha Gautama in modern Nepal around 500 BC), and Jainism. The Maurya Empire under Ashoka in the 3rd century BC briefly unified most of the subcontinent and spread Buddhism across Asia. Medieval India saw a series of powerful empires: the Gupta Empire's golden age of mathematics, astronomy, and art; the Delhi Sultanate; and the Mughal Empire (1526–1857) under emperors like Akbar, Shah Jahan (who built the Taj Mahal for his beloved wife), and Aurangzeb, which created an Islamic civilisation of extraordinary refinement. European traders arrived in the 16th century — Portuguese, Dutch, French, and finally British — with the British East India Company gradually dominating the subcontinent. The 1857 Uprising (First War of Independence) transferred power to the British Crown, making India the jewel of the British Empire until 1947. Gandhi and Nehru's non-violent independence movement culminated in Independence on 15 August 1947 and the painful Partition creating Pakistan. Today India is the world's most populous democracy and fifth-largest economy.