Periodic Division and Chronology of Indian History ||

Periodic Division

Christoph Cellarius (1638 - 1707 AD) 

Bipartite Division: History is generally divided into two periods – Pre-Historic and Historic. The period that has no written evidences is called Pre-Historic Period and the period that has written evidence is known as Historic Period.

In other words, the period before the beginning of writing is called Pre-Historic Period and the period after the beginning of writing is known as Historic Period. The time period of Pre-Historic Period is accepted as 30, 00,000 BC to 600 BC and the time period of Historic period as 600 BC to till date.

Tripartite Division: Tripartite division of History is more prevalent in practice. According to this, History is divided into three periods – Pre-Historic, Proto-Historic and Historic.

Name of the Period	Time Period	Definition
Pre-Historic Period	30, 00,000 BC – 2,500 BC	The period for which no written evidence is available e.g.: Lithic (Stone) Period
Proto-Historic Period	2,500 BC – 600 BC	The period for which written evidence is available but either their script has not been deciphered or their written documents have not been confirmed with archaeological evidence. E.g.: Indus Civilization and Vedic Culture.
Historic Period	600 BC – till date	The period for which written evidences is available. E.g.: Mahajanapada Period to till date.

*Note* On the basis of tools, Pre-Historic Period is divided into three sub- periods – Lithic (Stone) Period, Copper Period & Iron Period.

Chronology

German historian Christoph Cellarius (1638 – 1707 AD) was the first historian who gave us Tripartite Division of History. He divided history into three periods – Ancient Medieval and Modern History. After him, this tripartite division became standard (model) for history writing or reading.

For convenience of study, Indian History is divided into three periods—

Ancient India	The beginning – 647 AD i.e.: from Lithic (Stone) Period to death of Harsha.
Medieval India	647 AD – 1757 AD i.e.: from death of Harsha to the Battle of Plassey.
Modern India	1757 AD – 1990 AD i.e.: from the Battle of Plassey to Globalization.
Post Modern India	1991 – till date i.e.: from Globalization to till date.

Ancient India : The Beginning – 647 AD
Pre-Historic Period	30, 00,000 BC – 600 BC
Indus Civilization	2,500 BC – 1750 BC
Vedic Culture	1,500 BC – 600 BC
Mahajanapada Period	600 BC – 322 BC
Maurya Period	322 BC – 185 BC
Post – Maurya Period / Pre – Gupta Period	185 BC – 319 AD
Gupta Period	319 AD – 550 AD
Post – Gupta Period / Vardhana Dynasty	550 AD – 647 AD

Medieval Period : 647 AD – 1757 AD
Early Medieval Period	647 AD – 1206 AD
Sultanate Period	1206 AD – 1526 AD
Mughal Period	1526 AD – 1707 AD

Modern Period : 1757 – 1990
Stages of British Colonialism
First Phase	The Mercantile Phase	1757 – 1813		Monopoly of Trade & Direct appropriation of revenue.
Second Phase	The Industrial Phase	1813 – 1858		Period of ‘Lassez Fair’ i.e., Free Trade.
Third Phase	The Financial Phase	1860 – 1947		Financial Imperialism (Period of British capital investement in India)
British Policy towards Native States of India
Ring Fence Policy			1757 – 1813
Subordinate Isolation Policy			1813 – 1858
Subordinate Union Policy			1858 – 1935
Equal Federation Policy			1935 – 1947
National Movement
First Phase of Congress			1885 – 1905		Moderate Phase
Second Phase of Congress			1905 – 1917		Extremist Phase
Third Phase of Congress			1917 – 1947		Gandhian Phase