His-Story

Fraizi Movement

2009-11-11T22:31:00.000-08:00

Haji Shariatullah

The first half of the 19th century witnessed a movement known as Fraizi Movement in East Bengal. The founder of this movement was Haji Shariatullah. The movement was a reaction to the British agrarian policy and the consequent dealing of the Zamindars. This movement concentrated on the depressed class of Muslims. They were asked to give up un-Islamic customs and practices and to act upon the commandments of the religion called Faraiz or duties. Hence his followers came to be known as Faraizis.

'Trojan Horse'

2009-11-03T02:24:00.000-08:00

The world has witnessed three form of imperialism. The first was the merchant imperialism, then came the Free trade imperialism and the latest is the finance imperialism.The only way to check this is simply to develop a feeling of nationalism among the masses. They should not be carried away by the pomp and show. All that glitters is not gold. We should not be foolish like the Trojans. We must remember one thing – there are no free lunches in this world. Everything comes with a price tag, and if it is imposed, it will not only carry its price tag but also the blood stain of the indigenous craftsmen.

Rise of Indian Nationalism

2009-03-31T07:18:00.000-07:00

Rise of Indian nationalism:

courtsey : http://www.linkup.au.com

    Indians did not generally feel content about British rule in India. Indians lacked equal job opportunities.They were not allowed to advance to high positions in government service or to become officers in the army. In 1885, a number of Indian lawyers and professionals formed the Indian National Congress. Members of the organization belonged to various religions and came from all parts of India. Congress members debated political
and economic reforms, the future of India, and ways for Indians to achieve equal status with the British.
   Some Muslims believed the Indian National Congress was a Hindu organization aiming for Hindu rule. In 1906, several Muslim leaders, encouraged by the British, formed the All-India Muslim League.
Members of the organization sought to give the Muslims a voice in political affairs. However, most Muslims continued to support the Indian National Congress.
   In 1905, the British divided the state of Bengal into separate Hindu and Muslim sections. Indians protested this action with a boycott of British goods and a series of bombings and shootings. In an effort to stop the violence, the British introduced the Morley-Minto Reforms of 1909. These reforms enlarged the viceroy's executive council to include an Indian. They also allowed Indians to elect representatives to the provincial legislative councils. In 1911, the British reunited Bengal.
   When World War I broke out in 1914, Britain declared that India was also at war with Germany. Indian troops fought in many parts of the world. In return for support, the British promised more reforms
and agreed to let Indians have a greater role in political affairs. Nevertheless, protests against the British continued.
   In March 1919, the British passed the Rowlatt Acts to try to control protests in India. The acts attempted to restrict the political liberties and rights of Indians, including the right to trial by jury. But demonstrations against the government increased in response to the
acts. On April 13, 1919, thousands of Indians assembled in an enclosed area in Amritsar. Troops entered the meeting place and blocked the entrance. The British commander then ordered the soldiers to open fire on the unarmed crowd. The shots killed about 400 people and wounded about 1,200. This event, called the Amritsar Massacre, proved to be a turning point. From then on, Indians demanded complete independence from British rule. The British promised more reforms, but at the same time, they tried to crush the independence movement.
   The Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms were passed in late 1919 and went into full effect in 1921. The reforms increased the powers of the provincial legislative councils, where Indians were most active. The central legislative council was replaced by a legislature with most of its members elected. However, the viceroy and the governors still had the right to veto any bill. The Indians did not believe the reforms gave them enough power.
   By 1920, Mohandas K. Gandhi had become a leader in the Indian independence movement and in the Indian National Congress, which had become the most important Indian political organization. Gandhi
persuaded the Congress to adopt his program of nonviolent disobedience, also known as nonviolent nonco-operation. Gandhi's program asked Indians to boycott British goods, to refuse to pay taxes, and to stop using British schools, courts, and government services. As a result, some Indians gave up well-paying jobs that required them to cooperate with the British. Gandhi changed the Indian National Congress from a small party of educated men to a mass party with millions of followers.

First World War

2009-03-24T05:21:00.000-07:00

This is the presentation prepared by me on the topic 'First World War' for the class 10.

State Legislature

2009-03-19T09:28:00.000-07:00

Here is the Powerpoint Presentation on the working of the state Legislature under the Indian constitution. (click on the image below to download)

Indus Valley Civilisation

2008-11-22T04:41:00.000-08:00

River valleys have always played an important role in the progress of the Human civilization. It was on the banks of river Nile and Euphrates, there developed the civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia respectively. Similarly on the banks of river Indus there developed a civilization known as the Indus Valley Civilization. It is so far the oldest civilization of India. Though most of the sites related to it are now situated in Pakistan. It is also known as the Harappan Culture, a name given after the first site found – Harappa. The second most important site is that of Mohenjodaro (Mound of the Dead).
The basic difference between the Indus and the other civilizations is lack of written proof. While the Egyptians and the Mesopotamians left a lot of written material but we have very less documental proof regarding the Indus Culture. The little amount which we have have not been yet deciphered.
So we can say that the civilization belonged to the Pre – Historic period. The period about which we don’t have any record. It was before the age of written history or before the language developed.
It was in 1921 that Daya Ram Sahni discovered Harappa situated in the Montegomery district of Pakistan and in 1922 Dr. R.D. Banerjee discovered Mohenjodaro in the Larkana district of Pakistan.
Other places Include:
Pakistan – Bahawalpur, Balochistan (Sutkagendor)
India – Punjab (Ropar, Sanghol, Kotla Nihang Khan)
Rajasthan (Kalibangan)
Uttar Pradesh (Alamgirpur)
Chandigarh
Gujarat- Kathiawar (Lothal, Rangpur)
Harayana (Lothal, Rakhigari, Bhagwanpur)

'Red Indians'

2008-11-14T07:55:00.000-08:00

Often we read the term - Red Indians. There are many other terms such as Native Americans, Abhorignes,Indian Americans etc which are used in it's place.
The word Red Indian as we can see is made of two words. This is used for the people who are the original natives of America. they used to live here before the Europeon colonisation bagan.
They were called 'Red' because of their colour. It does not mean they were Red in colour, like the people who are called whites are not literally white in colour but fairer than others. Similarly thse natives were a little dark, light brown in colour. so they were called Red.
The word Indian is used because when Christopher Columbus landed on America he thought it to be India, so naturally he called it's inhabitants as indians. Since then the term is attached to them. Because of this many times the term Indian Americans is also used.

End Of the Despot

2008-10-30T06:07:00.000-07:00

Hindustan Times
New Delhi, October 30, 2008
First Published: 00:52 IST(30/10/2008)
Last Updated: 00:54 IST(30/10/2008)

On November 10, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom would have completed 30 years in office. But South Asia’s longest-serving authoritarian leader, who it seemed had always been president of the Maldives, was voted out of office in the country’s first multi-party election.

Gayoom, 71, present at every South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit since Saarc was formed 23 years ago, will be missing when the regional body holds its 16th summit in the Maldives next year.

In his place, Mohammed “Anni” Nasheed, leader of the Maldivian Democratic Party, the new President, will be representing his country. The change has come after a long, drawn out struggle for democracy in a country where Gayoom and the Maldives were synonymous.

Nasheed won 54 per cent in comparison to 46 per cent for the longtime ruler in Tuesday’s runoff, election officials said. Nearly 87 per cent of the nation’s 209,000 registered voters had cast their ballots.

“I want a peaceful transition,” Nasheed, who was 11 years old when Gayoom took power in 1978, told reporters as results came in Wednesday. “I want my supporters to be calm.”

“This is a happier day than ever in the history of the Maldives. The Maldives will change, it will have a peaceful government,” said Nasheed, 41.

He said he had no plans to pursue criminal charges against Gayoom, whom he had accused of corruption, but instead will arrange a pension and security for him.

“A test of our democracy will be how we treat Maumoon. I don’t think we should be going for a witch-hunt and digging up the past,” Nasheed added.

“In the life of a democracy this is a great moment, a great example by Maldivians. I accepted the will of the people," Gayoom said after his defeat.

“My legacy is going to be introducing a modern, liberal form of democracy. That is the greatest legacy anyone can give.”

Gayoom, who “won” 96.4 per cent of the total vote in 1988 as his highest in six terms as president, polled 90.28 per cent as “lowest” in 2003.

With the Maldives embracing democracy, and Pakistan and Nepal holding credible elections, South Asia’s map suddenly looks less authoritarian. Only Bangladesh, where the military rules by proxy, and Myanmar, where the military rules directly, remain holdouts.

Gayoom missed shattering Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew’s 31-year, unbroken stint as prime minister from 1959 to 1990.

Vibrant Culture

2008-10-23T01:12:00.000-07:00

Though Indian People are normally presented in a poor light by the west but in fact they are far better. It pains a lot when some so called educated elite of India themselves join the west and start attacking their own culture. We should know that in India we have the oldest continuing cultural tradition. No where in the world do we find anything parallel to it. Egyptians or Iraqis were not aware of the culture of their forefathers until the archaeologists arrived. Even the Greeks only had vague knowledge. On the other hand when Europeons came to India they found that the people here were fully aware of their past. Even a common Indian knew about the famous person living in their locality, thousand years before Christ. The mantras which the Brahmins chant are written even before that.

Anglicist and Orientilist

2008-10-23T01:10:00.000-07:00

Earlier the britishers in India regarded education as the personal matter of the Indians and they never interferred. But as the time passed they needed some educated men so that they can serve them by doing some kind of clerical jobs. But they realised that indigeneous education system was not competent enough to produce such men. By the charter Act of 1813 it was decided that every year 1 Lakh rupees would be spent on the propogation of education on India.
At this there arose a controversy. The officials of the East India company were divided over the issue of propogation of which education - Oriental or Anglicised.
Either Indigeneous education was to be promoted or the Modern English Education. A General Comittee of Public Instruction was made to look into the matter.
Within the committee the two groups, the Orientalist was led by H.T. Princep and the Anglicist by Lord Macauly.
The aim of the British as stated in the famous minute of Lord Macaulay in 1835 was to produce a class of men Indian in blood and colour but british in oppinion, moral, taste and intellect. In other words they wanted to create 'Brown Englishmen' to fill the lower cadres in the Company's administration. So decision was taken in favour of the Anglicists.

'Grave neglect: The Begum of Awadh'

2008-10-20T03:29:00.000-07:00

This is an article from the magazine : Himal Southasian (July 2008)

Grave neglect: The Begum of Awadh
By: Surabhi Pudasaini

In the Bag Bazaar area of Kathmandu, flanked by a rundown shopping mall on one side and what goes for a phone booth on the other, is a small area enclosed by neat piles of bricks. Inside, on a slightly elevated plane, stands a lonely tree surrounded by flowerpots, used plastic cups and advertisements for phone cards. It is an unremarkable space, and bears no indication of being the tomb of an extraordinary freedom fighter, Begum Hazrat Mahal.
Hazrat Mahal was the wife of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah of Awadh, which spanned large parts of modern-day Uttar Pradesh. She continued to live in Lucknow after the kingdom’s annexation by the British in 1856, and her husband’s subsequent exile to Calcutta. When the revolutionaries captured Lucknow during the first War of Independence, in 1857, Hazrat Mahal promptly rose to the occasion, crowning her 12-year old son Birjis Qadr king, and leading the revolutionary government as a regent-queen.
As the ruler of Awadh, Hazrat Mahal proved herself as a courageous leader and a fine strategist. She travelled great distances, rallying her people to oppose the British, and convincing Indian soldiers in the colonial army to join the rebellion. Lucknow was able to repel the British troops for six months, continuing to fight long after most other revolutionary strongholds had fallen. After the British recaptured the capital, the begum fled to a nearby fort, where she continued to incite rebellion. Even when defeat became a certainty, she refused all offers of clemency and wealth from the British, choosing instead to undertake a hazardous journey through dense forests to the safe haven of Nepal.
There is little reliable information about the more than two decades that Hazrat Mahal spent in Kathmandu. Having been granted asylum by the then-prime minister, Jung Bahadur Rana, by all accounts in exchange for her jewellery and treasures, she is said to have arrived in the valley sometime in 1858, with a small band of faithful supporters. Some narratives state that the Rana rulers gave her a palace in which to live, and also provided a military commission for her son. There is also speculation that Hazrat Mahal continued to play a role in politics from across the frontier.
There is a notable blank in historical records about Hazrat Mahal’s stay in Nepal. She died in Kathmandu in 1879 (some records put it at 1874), and was buried in the courtyard of the ‘Hindustani Masjid’, the mosque she is said to have built for her followers. Decades later, this structure was torn down and a new mosque, now known as the Jama Masjid, was built in its place. Today, the humble mound of bricks that is said to mark Hazrat Mahal’s resting place falls outside the grounds of the mosque. This tomb is certainly inadequate as a marker for the rebel Begum of Awadh, so far away from home in Kathmandu.

Text of Guru Granth Sahib

2008-10-20T03:08:00.000-07:00

Guru Granth Sahib contains the composition of all the sikh gurus starting from the first Guru, Guru Nanak Dev Ji. The first composition in Guru Granth Sahib is 'Japuji Sahib' writtent by Guru Nanak Dev Ji. It is regarded as the composition which contains the jist of the entire Granth Sahib. The compilation of Granth Sahib was was started by the fifth Guru of the Sikhs, Guru Arjan Dev Ji. He started collected the hymns of all the earlier Gurus and compiled all of them into one big volume ie. Guru Granth Sahib. Later on the successive Gurus wrote their hymns and in the end tenth Guru of the sikhs, Guru Gobind Singh ji added all of them in the Granth Sahib.
Besides the compositions of the sikh gurus it contains the compositions of various saints of the time. Only those compositions were added that were according to the sikh way of thought.
Guru Granth Sahib ji includes 31 Ragas. Various 'Banis' or compositions are written in various ragas. For further information visit the following link:

http://www.sikhiwiki.org/index.php/Index_of_Guru_Granth_Sahib

Guru Granth Sahib Ji

2008-10-20T02:30:00.000-07:00

Guru Granth Sahib Ji is the living Guru of the sikhs. It is the only Holy book of the world which is given the status of the Guru. It consists of 1430 pages and hymns of the saints of various religions including Hindu ,Muslims and sikhs. It was given the status of Guru by the tenth Guru of the sikhs Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji. He had declared that after him Guruu Granth Sahib will be the Guru of the sikhs. Guru Ji said –

“Sab Sikhan ko hokam hai Guru Manyo Granth” meaning “All Sikhs are commanded to take the Granth as Guru”

Guru Gobind Singh Ji Giving Granth Sahib the status of Guru

'Real' Reporting

2008-10-17T23:53:00.000-07:00

Whenever I read the news or see it on the television I always find a glaring difference in the reporting. Whenever a westerner dies he or she has a name, has a family, has dreams whereas when a Afghan or an Iraqi dies he has nothin. He only has a number. As if he never lived. Al the dead are easily declared terrorists. Nobody talks about the Germans killed in the allied bombings or the Japanese killed by the Americans or the Koreans or the Vietnamese who were killed by spraying poisoonous liquid. American generals very often boast of their killings in vietnam. Similar thing is done When reporting about the people killed by the serbians not by the non-serbians. Photos of the civilians killed by the suicide bombers are telecast again and again but hhundreds of people killed by the so called precision bombs of the NATO forces are not shown. Only numbers are told that too much less. But truth will always come up.

'Poverty the eye cannot see'

2008-10-17T00:36:00.000-07:00

This is an article from the magazine : Himal Southasian (october 2008)

Poverty the eye cannot see

By: Harsh Mander

In India, there are near-constant debates about defining and measuring poverty, hunger, malnutrition and starvation. If these were merely of academic interest, this writer could pass them by in his uneducated ignorance. Any confusion could be rationalised by echoing an irreverent professor at the Delhi School of Economics, who compares statistics to a hapless and impoverished tribal man, arrested by a police inspector in a dreaded Indian police station. “If you torture both enough,” the professor tells his students, “you can force them to admit to anything!”
Faye Hall
Yet we cannot afford to ignore the sometimes complex calculations of estimating poverty and hunger levels. Especially since the 1990s in India, these calculations have been deployed by public planners and finance managers to justify cutting back public expenditures on food security, by targeting a hitherto universal public distribution system (through a country-wide network of subsidised foodgrain ration shops) at only those who are officially ‘certified’ to be poor. The same calculations of allegedly declining poverty and hunger are used to limit public expenditures on a range of other programmes for the poor – such as pensions for destitute old people and maternity benefits – and to minimise official acknowledgement of the adverse impacts of the policies of ‘structural adjustment’ programmes.
When poverty lines are fixed by politicians and administrators with one eye on political implications and another on budgetary ones, commentator Ashwani Saith has pithily surmised that this “usually leads to a squint and to cockeyed vision”. In a passionate and cogent critique of poverty-line estimates, Saith has asked, “Are the poor from Mars and the rich from Venus?” Poverty and its handmaiden, inequality, he says, “are everywhere for all those with eyes to see”, yet academics and policymakers “have an almost existential need to know how much of ‘it’ there is, and who ‘they’ are.” In fact, they are in “every landlord’s house, in each village, every five-star hotel is surrounded by them, every posh colony has its antithesis outside its gate, where the other half strives to survive … they greet you again on the pavements after a late night … you have a brush with them at traffic lights.”
Overproduction or under-consumption
Most poverty lines are constructed around the severely minimalist premise of the least amount of money that an average person would require to buy the cheapest food that, when eaten, would metabolise into the minimum calories that he or she requires to lead an active and healthy life. Nutritionists the world over have experimented with many sets of people in order to construct estimates of the minimum calorie requirements of average populations. The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) of energy has been pegged by Indian planners at 2100 kilocalories for urban and 2400 for rural people per day for ‘normal’ work, based on recommendations by the Nutrition Expert Group to the Planning Commission in 1968.

On the other hand, studies have established that some people, especially poor labourers, need to expend far greater energy, thus requiring substantially higher levels of caloric intake. As such, poverty levels need to be seen as biased against those who are most deprived. A World Health Organisation study in 1985, for instance, found that a male subsistence farmer who puts in seven hours of work in his fields every day requires 2780 kilocalories; a woman who puts in four hours of housework and three hours in the fields expends around 2235 kilocalories. Heavy work such as earth-cutting, carrying head-loads, mining and pedalling rickshaws requires even higher food fuel, close to 3550 kilocalories. Less-than-subsistence nutritional intake for the impoverished can lead to avoidable illness and early death.
The Delhi-based economist Utsa Patnaik argues that even the extremely modest minimal standards of caloric intake prescribed for calculating poverty thresholds have been quietly (and, she believes, dishonestly) abandoned by New Delhi’s policymakers. She suggests that this has been done in order to perpetrate a myth about rapidly falling poverty levels in an era of globalisation and structural adjustment. Patnaik finds that the nutritional norms of 2100 and 2400 kilocalories were actually used to assess poverty levels only in 1973-74, when rural and urban poverty lines were fixed at around INR 49 and INR 57 per head per month. Since then, the National Planning Commission has never altered this baseline, essentially assuming that people’s consumption patterns would remain completely unchanged, despite the changes in diet that have taken place over the past three decades. Meanwhile, a simple pricing index has been used to adjust upwards the 1973-74 poverty line. Additionally, it is unlikely that the assumed cost of minimum food requirements fixed in the early 1970s still reflects the real cost of food in India.
What did this official practice of calculating poverty hide? In 1999-2000, for instance, the price-adjusted poverty line was INR 328 per month per rural person. By this count, the proportion of poor people in Indian villages had fallen to 27 percent, from 37 percent in 1993-1994. There are important political ramifications to this. The central government, for instance, tried to use this data to justify a cabinet decision to reduce the quantity and price of subsidised foodgrain made available through the public distribution system. This was precariously resisted by a broad range of critics, who also sought the mediation of the Supreme Court. But Utsa Patnaik points out that planners remain silent as to the fact that a monthly expenditure of INR 328 enables a person to access, at best, only 1890 kilocalories a day, more than 500 kilocalories below the modest minimal norm of 2400 officially fixed three decades ago. Patnaik is of the view that the burgeoning food stocks that characterised the Indian situation a few years ago do not represent overproduction but rather under-consumption.
The current threshold for rural poverty-line expenditure is INR 11 per person per day, with the urban level just a bit higher at INR 17 per day. Patnaik challenges the Planning Commission officials to spend even a week in an Indian village, trying to survive on this amount of money. Even exempting them from any physical labour, she observes that their daily allowance would permit them to purchase no more than one bottle of mineral water.
Purely biological
Even if the Planning Commission had been scrupulous in adhering to its minimal caloric norms, the computation of underfed poor people would still make a range of ethically and politically problematic assumptions about the behaviour and choices available to impoverished people. Nutritionists point out that when a calculation is made as to the amount needed for a particular nutrient, it is assumed that the requirements of all other nutrients are also met. For instance, if it is assessed that an adult male requires 2400 calories daily, it is assumed that he will also get the required proteins, vitamins, etc. In fact, the official poverty line fulfils only the protein requirement, if at all, from cereals.
The Centre for Policy Alternatives in New Delhi has devised an alternative poverty index based on expenditure required for basic needs of nutrition, health care, clothing, shelter and so on. By these standards, in 2001 a monthly expenditure was required of INR 840 per head. Yet even this would place 68.5 percent of the urban and 80 percent of the rural population below the poverty line, a far cry from the upbeat government claims of a fall of poverty ratios to 26.1 percent. Furthermore, the strict poverty-line standards of India’s planners require people to purchase only the cheapest foodstuffs, regardless of cultural and personal preference. Economist Pranab Bardhan regards this as self-evident that “in a situation of extreme poverty, as in India, one is less preoccupied with the cultural, sociological and political factors” in defining a “purely biological minimum” standard. He clarifies that people should be excluded from poverty calculations if they “forego the opportunity to buy cheaper sources of calories and protein just because these items are not tasty enough.”
Such a comparison is harsh and somewhat overdrawn, but one is reminded of the British colonial treatment of famine in India, on which Mike Davis’s Late Victorian Holocausts contains some devastating insights. Davis points out that colonial policy took the view that some people (the impoverished, aged and destitute) were expendable; though lives could have been saved in drought-struck areas, some officials felt that the free market should be allowed to hold sway, and that any state intervention would lead to unusual price fluctuations. Davis also draws a link between these practices and the Holocaust, when Nazi commanders at concentration camps continuously experimented with lowering food rations for Jewish inmates. Not only were the scientists who were performing these experiments intricately familiar with the histories of famines in India; the Nazi conception of calorie intake required by a concentration-camp inhabitant was greatly shaped by the Indian Famine Commission’s conception of the nutritional requirement of Indian famine victims hired on public-works projects.
The non-measurable
There is a whole other element to the consumption of food than pure calories. Ashwani Saith asks whether the poor are “permitted to have palates and preferences”, whether poor children are entitled to eat “fast food occasionally – not often enough to become obese, but occasionally at least to know how the other half thrives, and to harbour the illusion that they belong to the same universe as other children?” He points out that the minimal-caloric-level norms rule out social hospitality and ritual feasts. There are myriad accounts available of how dispossessed people in India experience a profound psychological and cultural sense of deprivation when they cannot feed their guests, and even people who beg on streets derive great dignity and self-esteem by being hospitable to visitors. When this writer sat down one evening, a homeless, destitute widow who begged at temples in Madurai insisted on giving him ‘colour’, Tamil slang for aerated cold drinks.
As for some other pitfalls in regarding household expenditure as a measure of well being, it assumes that impoverished people can depend on reliable, accessible and satisfactory quality services of health and education from the public sector. For instance, in 1962 a working group of economists fixed the poverty line at a level that excluded any expenditure on health and education. They justified this by making the assumption that both be provided free of cost by the state, because it was a constitutional requirement; likewise, the experts also assumed that urban housing would be subsidised by the state. Today, we know that these assumptions are light years away from the realities of most poor families, who spend enormous amounts of their scarce money on health matters, while the urban poor rarely have access to state housing.
While poverty surveys can be dismissed as laughable in their design and execution, they cannot be completely disregarded, given that they can block access to officially subsidised food and safety nets. For instance, the Planning Commission instituted a rural survey of poor families based on a 13-point scoring scale. By the norms of the survey, a household was at risk of being regarded as relatively well-endowed and consequently ineligible for subsidised food and other government aid if the dwelling had a roof and toilet; if the children attended school; if some of its members were educated; if it had access to credit; and if the family occasionally ate non-vegetarian food. The survey also disqualified forest-based Adivasis who hunted and foraged, and fisherfolk and poor people who benefited from government sanitation programmes.
The selection of urban poor families is even more arbitrary, based on local enquiries by often corrupt officials of the notorious Food Department, when poor households apply for ration cards. The procedures effectively rule out those who are most needy in any city, due to their constantly contested citizenship – migrant workers, rag-pickers, homeless populations, the mentally ill and leprosy patients, the destitute who live by begging, residents of ‘illegal’ and demolished slums, minorities (especially if they come from eastern India and therefore are suspected to be Bangladeshi migrants), construction workers, rickshaw pullers and head-loaders, sex workers and domestic workers.
For the urban poor, who constitute around one-third of poor people in India, it is astounding that the government has still not devised a way of identifying those who are most poor. It is left to officials mostly of the Food Department and Civil Supplies Department to assess the monetary incomes of people who apply for ration cards, to decide whether they are eligible. In one study, it was found that only around 150 ration cards were distributed for people identified to be living below the poverty line in Dharavi slum of Bombay. The overwhelming majority of slum and street residents in all cities have been similarly excluded from the government’s poverty-identification efforts, and consequently from accessing the official food schemes. The state government of Delhi, in an affidavit to the Supreme Court, went so far as to claim that there was not a single family within the realm that qualified as “the poorest of the poor” for ‘Antyodaya’ cards, which entitles cardholders to discounted rations.
There is an old proverb that goes, What the eye cannot see, the heart cannot grieve. The capacities of governments seem acutely limited in their ability to see, and then list and measure, such issues as hunger, deprivation and want, and then to identify those who chronically live at the edge of starvation. There is, in fact, no dearth of professional knowledge and resources available to public authorities. What is lacking is integrity and compassion.
Harsh Maher is a social activist, writer and former civil servant who has worked in Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh for two decades.

'Che'

2008-10-08T04:05:00.000-07:00

Ernesto "Che" Guevara was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, politician, author, physician, military theorist, and guerrilla leader. He was born on June 14, 1928 in Rosario, Argentina, the eldest of five children in a family of Basque and Irish descent. In spite of the fact that he was suffering from Asthama right from the beginning yet he was a very good athlete.

Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari

2008-08-31T04:58:00.000-07:00

Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari

Gandhi with C.Rajagopalachari
Courtsey : Wikipedia

He was born on 10 December 1878 in a Brahmin family of Salem District. He was an Indian Lawyer, Writer and a Statesman. He was elected as the Municipal Chairman of Salem and he held that post for two years. He was the second Governor-General of independent India. Later he became the Chief Minister of Madras State, and was one of the first recipients of India's highest civilian award Bharat Ratna (in 1954). He was even selected for the post of President of India but due to the infighting between the Congress party he opted to remain out. He also served as the union Home Minister. It was during this period that he warned Jawaharlal Nehru about the expansionist designs of China. He died on 25 December 1972.

Lack of Modern Historical Writing in India

2008-08-28T09:25:00.000-07:00

Jawahar Lal Nehru giving Speech

When I go to any library I come across so many books on Ancient and Medieval Indian History but I hardly find any on the post modern period or on the post independent India. However this is not the case in any other subject specially in Political Science and Sociology. Even in Maths and Science we find latest and upto date books.It is only in History that there is sheer dearth in the writen material. There are scores of Historians in India but nobody is bothered to write about it. All of them write about Ancient or the Medieval India. There is no material available on the state wise History. There are so many states in India but none has bothered to write about their history. However we cannot straight away throw away the blame onto the historians. To some extent we the people of India are to be blamed.
Firstly, If someone writes about the events of the recent past there are so many who simply do not digest it. They are not able to come to the terms of the writing no matter how much pains the author might have taken in collecting the information before he reached to some conclusion.
Secondly, people consider themselves more superior than the writer. They draw their own conclusions which are simply based on hearsay.
Thirdly, Even the government is to be blamed who do not provide the information to the researchers even after 30 years of the incident.
So the historians consider it better to wirte about the distant past for which they will get a lot of material easily and the people will also digest the information easily as they are not bothered about that.

Musharraf - Brushes With Death

2008-08-04T23:25:00.000-07:00

1961 – The branch of the mango tree broke from which he was hanging upside down.
1972 – A plane crashed which he was bound to board but due to some reason he didn’t .
1988 – He was to be on the plane with Prez. Zia-ul-Haq that crached. But last minute shuffle saved him.
1998 – He didn’t board a helicopter that crashed because he was to play Bridge with his friend.
1999 – He was cheaf of the army staff. He was returning from Colombo when Prime Minister effectively blocked his landing, with 7 min fuel to spare army took control of the Karachi airport . 2001 – Returning from U.S. he had to return because of the news of a bomb on the plane which was was a hoax.
14 Dec. 2003 – A bomb exploded behind the car.
25 Dec. 2003 – Two cars with suicide mission struck his car.

Concept of History

2008-07-11T00:21:00.000-07:00

The word 'History' in simpler terms is the study of the past.the word 'history' is derived from the greek word 'historia'.The Indian history is divided into three parts -- Ancient, Medieval and Modern. Overall history is divided into two parts Pre and Proto History

Pre history

The word Prehistory has been formed of two words - Pre (Latin) which means 'before' and Greek word 'historia' which means History. the term is often used to describe the period before written history. Paul Tournal originally coined the term Pré-historique in describing the findings he had made in the caves of southern France. It came into use in French in the 1830s to describe the time before writing, and was introduced into English by Daniel Wilson in 1851.Prehistory can be said to date back to the beginning of the universe itself, although the term is most often used to describe periods when there was life on Earth; dinosaurs can be described as prehistoric animals and cavemen are described as prehistoric people.

Proto history

Protohistory refers to a period between prehistory and history, during which a culture or civilization has not yet developed writing, but other cultures have already noted its istence in their own writings. For example, in Europe, the Celts and the Germanic tribes may be considered to have been protohistoric when they began appearing in Greek and Roman texts.Protohistoric may also refer to the transition period between the advent of literacy in a society and the writings of the first historians. The preservation of oral traditions may complicate matters as these can provide a secondary historical source for even earlier events. Colonial sites involving a literate group and a non-literate group, are also studied as protohistoric situations.

The Trojan Horse

2008-04-14T10:07:00.000-07:00

The Trojan Horse is the universally accepted symbol of treachery and deceit. Nowadays it has been replaced by money or Direct Foreign Investment. In the name of globalization, the developed nations of the world are establishing their hegemony over the third world countries, Economic Imperialism, as it can be explained in the simpler terms. The world level organizations, which were once formed to support the poor nations have simply become puppets in the hands of the Capitalist nations. These nations are behaving like vultures relishing the dead animals. With their military powers they force the weaker countries to open their markets and then flood them with money. Foreign money is like drug-addiction, once a person gets into the habit, and then it is very difficult to get rid of it. Best example if this type of Imperialism is that of India. With the force of power, India was forced to open up its markets, then intoxicating money was pumped into the veins of the Indian economy and was paralyzed. John Sullivan, who was the President of Board of Revenue, Madras had once rightly said, “Our (British) system acts very much like a sponge, drawing up all the good things from the banks of the Ganges and squeezing them down on the banks of the Thames.”
The world has witnessed three form of imperialism. The first was the merchant imperialism, then came the Free Trade imperialism and the latest is the finance imperialism.
The only way to check this is simply to develop a feeling of nationalism among the masses. They should not be carried away by the pomp and show. All that glitters is not gold. We should not be foolish like the Trojans. We must remember one thing – there are no free lunches in this world. Everything comes with a price tag, and if it is imposed, it will not only carry its price tag but also the blood stain of the indigenous craftsmen.

Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar

2008-04-13T09:52:00.000-07:00

Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (April 14, 1891 — December 6, 1956) was an Indian jurist, scholar, Bahujan political leader and a Buddhist revivalist, who is the chief architect of the Indian Constitution, also known as Babasaheb. Born into a poor Untouchable community, Ambedkar spent his life fighting against the system of Chaturvarna and the Indian caste system. He is also credited for having sparked the Dalit Buddhist movement. Ambedkar has been honoured with the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, given for the highest degree of national service. Overcoming numerous social and financial obstacles, Ambedkar became one of the first "untouchables" to obtain a college education in India. He went on to pursue higher studies in Columbia University, New York, United States and England, where he earned law degrees and multiple doctorates for his study and research in law, economics and political science. Returning home a famous scholar, Ambedkar practiced law for a few years before he began publishing journals advocating political rights and social freedom for India's untouchables.

Conflict Diamonds (Part 2)

2007-08-28T06:21:00.000-07:00

The word ‘Blood Diamonds’ is used for those diamonds which are illegally mined, sold and the money earned from it is used to purchase arms. Angola, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, The Democratic Republic of Congo, The Republic Of Congo were the places where illegal diamond mining was done. To check such activities Angola was put under U.N. sanctions in 1998 forbidding other countries buying diamonds from it. In Sierra Leone following the U.N. mediation led to the signing of the agreement between the government and Revolutionary United Front (RUF) known as Lome Peace Agreement. Liberia also faced U.N. sanctions in 2001, same happened in the other areas. Now there is peace in these areas.

Conflict Diamonds (Part 1)

2007-08-20T00:42:00.000-07:00

Panning for diamonds in Sierra Leone.

The word ‘Diamond’ has been derived from a greek word “adamas” , which means unconquerable. Diamonds are made of pure carbon and are so far the hardest natural substance known to man.
Diamonds are since long symbols of social status. Every famous diamond of the world has a sorrow tale to tell as many people have died to own it and many have died to steal it. These gems can be transparent, truculent white, yellow, green, blue, or brown. Diamonds have played a great role in many battles and have given birth to human tragedies.
Diamond was first discovered in India and Borneo in the river beds and later on in the eighteenth century in Brazil. In Africa they were discovered between December 1866 and February 1867 on the south bank of the Orange River. After the discovery, within 15 years the African mines produced more than what India had produced for the last 2000 years. This increase meant that the prices of diamond would not fall as there was a sharp decline in the production of Brazil.
Diamonds are found 150 Km. below the earth’s surface. The diamonds make their way up the surface captured within liquid hot rock or magma. Once they reach the surface diamonds can be found in volcanic pipes called kimberlite pipes or in loose mineral deposits called alluvial deposits.
Alluvial deposits are created by diamond pipe erosion and are easily excavated. They require very little financial capital to be invested in the removal. This is due to the fact that they are often found in riverbeds and along the coast and they do not require highly advanced mining techniques nor due they require a large amount of human capital. The simplest method of mining alluvial deposits is with a shovel and a pan. With this method diamonds and soil are shoveled into a hand held pan where they are separated by agitation and shorted by eye. More advanced methods of mining use large machinery that moves the alluvial in to large shorting pans that send different densities to smaller picking tables followed by a grease table. Since diamonds are mostly water repellent, they are sorted in alluvial deposits by using grease. While other minerals develop a water coding and slide of the grease, the water resistant diamonds stick to the grease and are collected. Mining kimberllite pipe requires a more advanced degree of mining technology and is more expensive. The first step in mining a kimberlite pipe is to dig the pit. In “open-pit” or “open-cast” mining, the layers of rock are dug up and eventually tunnels and pipe are build so the hard ore material can be removed with large hydraulic shovels and trucks. The hard rock is broken into pieces with shovels and other methods until the rock is small enough to be remove from the mine by truck. When the kimberlite ore is deep underground it must be removed by mining a series of underground shafts in the pipe that allow the ore to be carved off and make its way down the tunnel to a draw point. At these points the crushed ore is brought up to the surface for processing. Only about 20% of the world’s diamonds are taken from pipe mines, and the remaining 80% of diamonds are alluvial.
In 1866, the first diamonds in Africa were found. Before the discovery of diamonds in South Africa diamonds were very scarce and they were highly valued. Following the discovery of diamonds in Africa the production of diamonds increased tenfold in the next tens years.

The British hand in Dividing India

2007-08-15T00:17:00.000-07:00

“For decades after 1885 communalism served as a second line
of defence of both imperialism and the reactionary forces.
But with the passage of time it became their chief
political and ideological instrument.”

(Bipan Chandra – one of the foremost historians of modern India)

British can be held responsible to a large extent for the partition of Indian subcontinent in 1947.It were they, who if did not fan the fire of communalism, did not even try to control it. Imperialists never acknowledged the responsibility and even some of the Indian historians don’t believe in it. According to them this theme was only used by the nationalists to rouse the people against the British.
To a certain extent they are right. British could not have been successful in sowing the seed of communal hatred if there would not have been something within the Indian society to provide the fertile soil. But it is also a fact that if there would have been a nationalist government in power than they would certainly had checked its growth. It did not happen so because British were in power and they wanted that Indians should continue to fight among themselves.
It was in the 19th century that the country witnessed a rise in the nationalist movement and also a nation in the making. Britishers were afraid because it produced a serious threat to their rule. Back home in Britain the number of people who questioned the British rule over India were increasing. In the beginning Britishers used to justify by using the terms such as --- White man’s burden, civilizing mission etc. With the passage of time these things lost their shine and the Britishers began looking for some other reason so as to justify their rule. So they fanned communal hatred and declared that they must continue to rule for the protection of the minorities.(If this was the reason why they did nothing to provide a safe passage to nearly 14.5 million people who had to migrate to the other side of the border during partition, out of which nearly 1 million died )

 If Hindus and Muslims would have been united then it would have been difficult for the british to continue their rule over India
 If they supported Muslim communalists this doesn’t mean that they were anti-Hindu. They only wanted to divide the Indians.
 After creating a wedge between Hindus and Muslims then they tried to bring regional communalism. Punjabis vs Bengali vs Bihari etc.
 They did not support Hindu communalism not because they had sympathy with the Muslims because support to the hindu communalism meant uniting nearly 80% of the population. This would have certainly strengthened the Indian National Congress(I.N.C.)
 The Britishers created following divisions :

• Hindus , Muslims and Sikhs
• Agricultural and non-agricultural classes
• Martial and non martial races
• Punjabi, Bengalis, Biharis etc.
• To divide Hindus they invented the term The Depressed classes
• Created divisions between the rural and urban population

When the things went out of control they decided to divide and quit, leaving all the mess to be cleared by the Indians themselves.

I would like to end with a couplet from a poem written on the plight of women during the partition days.

Ik royee si dhee Punjab di, tu likh maaray wein
Aj lakhaan Dhiyan rondiyan, Waris Shah noon Kehn…….

[When one daughter of Punjab cried, you cried a river over her
(by writing Heer)-Today thousands of them are crying – in vain –for your attention]

Amrita Pritam (One of the best known Punjabi Poetess)

Freedom and Partition of India

2007-08-14T01:19:00.000-07:00

The red Boundry shows the pre-partitioned India

The partition of India led to the creation of Dominion of Pakistan(later Islamic Republic of Pakistan) on 14 August, 1947 and Union of India (later Republic of India) on 15 August, 1947.
The partition came along with Freedom from the British rule. Thousands of people who sacrificed their lives for the freedom of their country could no have even imagined that one day their beloved country would be divided with so much bloodshed.

In the next post I will be discussing the role of the British in dividing India.

"The Great Arsenal of Democracy"

2007-08-04T20:58:00.000-07:00

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

The Great Arsenal of Democracy is one of the most famous of 30 speechse given by Roosevelt, then the President of America. The term Arsenal of Democracy was used by Roosevelt for Detroit (Michigan) where the auto industry had started to produce war goods for being supplied to Britain.The speech was given on December 29, 1940, the time when Nazi Germany had ran over almost all of the Europe with Britain only standing in way. Nazis had joined hands with Italy and Japan (Axis Powers). They were also collaborating with Soviet Russia.The speech was given to arouse the American people in suport of the war effort. America polity at that time was divided into Interventionists and Isolationasits. While the former supported the intervention into the war the later were against it. However the speech certainly helped to turn the wave in favour of the Interventionists.

The term 'Arsenal of Democracy' was not originally coined by Roosevelt but by Jean Monnet, who was working as the supply coordinator and economic liaison to the United States for the French government in exile. During a meeting withe Rossevelt he had coined the phrase but was asked to use the phrase again. Since then Roosevelt has got all the adulation for the phrase. He had used this celebrated phrase in the following lines:

"We must be the great arsenal of democracy. For us this is

an emergency as serious as war itself. We must apply ourselves

to our task with the same resolution, the same sense of urgency,

the same spirit of patriotism and sacrifice as we would show were we at war."

Note: for full text of the speech 'The Great Arsenal of Democracy' visit the following link :

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/fdrarsenalofdemocracy.html

Female Education in India

2007-07-15T18:21:00.000-07:00

“Education commences at the mother’s knee,
and every word spoken within the hearsay of little
children tends towards the formation of character.”

(HoseaBallou)

Female education in India is not a gift of modern civilization; we have brilliant tradition of it in our country. At least 20 women composed Rigvedic hymns. Gargi and Matreyi were the leading philosophers of the time. Women in the Vedic era so excelled in the sphere of education that even the deity of learning was conceived of as a female popularly known as ‘Saraswati’. Girls were allowed to enter in to Gurukuls along with boys. There are also instances of female ‘rishis’ such as Ghosa, Indrani, Urvashi etc. However, the status of women gradually declined during the post Vedic period. Child wives without education became the order of the day. The situation continued to decline till the coming of the British and the general national democratic awakening, which took place in India during the second half of the nineteenth century. The social reform movements which arose as a result of the interaction with the western civilization stressed on educating the women. The pioneering work of women’s education was done by such socio-religious reform bodies as Brahmo Samaj, Arya Samaj, Ramakrishna mission and also Danish, American, German and British missionary societies.

Jawahar Lal Nehru had once rightly said,

“Educate a man and you educate one person.
Educate a woman and you educate the whole family.”

Education, in reality, is the most valuable gift that parents can give to their daughter. If a girl is educated then she can also opt for a job if the need arises. So she would not be considered as a burden on the family. This would check the social evil of female foeticide. As an educated wife she would be interested in family planning as well. Studies have shown that illiterate women have high fertility and mortality rate. Many women prefer to have more children so that they could look after her in old age. But being educated she would certainly understand the advantages of a small family. Also being educated she would be able to participate in the day to day proceedings of the family. This would only add up one more voice and an opinion.
An educated mother would be more conscious about the health and hygiene of the family than her illiterate counterpart. Studies have proved that lack of education affects the general health of the family. Also infant mortality is inversely related to the educational level of the mother. For example, in Kerela female literacy ratio is highest (86%) and has lowest infant mortality rate with highest life expectancy. On the other hand in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar where female literacy ratio is lowest, life expectancy is also lowest. Besides general health inculcating good moral values in her children would be one of the top priorities of any educated mother. In the long run, well brought up children are an asset which any society would love to possess. This is how the civilization moves.

List of Presidents of India

2007-06-29T23:57:00.000-07:00

01 Dr. Rajendra Prasad                   January 30, 1950-May 13, 1962
02 Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan         May 13, 1962- May 13, 1967
03 Dr. Zakir Hussain                       May 13, 1967- May 3, 1969
*     Varahagiri Venkata Giri            May 3, 1969-July 20, 1969
*     Muhammad Hidayatullah         July 20, 1969- August 24, 1969

04 Varahagiri Venkata Giri August 24, 1969-August 24, 1974

05 Dr. Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed       August 24, 1974-February 11, 1977
*     Basappa Danappa Jatti             February 11, 1977-July 25, 1977
06 Neelam Sanjiva Reddy              July 25, 1977-July 25, 1982
07 Giani Zail Singh                      July 25, 1982-July 25, 1987
08 Ramaswamy Venkataraman     July 25, 1987-July 25, 1992
09 Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma       July 25, 1992-July 25, 1997
10 Kocheril Raman Narayanan      July 25, 1997-July 25, 2002
11 Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam            July 25, 2002-Present

* Acting Presidents

'President' KALAM

2007-06-19T00:34:00.000-07:00

According to me the most deserving candidate at this time India has for the post of president is surely Mr.Kalam. He deserves a second term.

Name of months

2007-06-17T00:49:00.002-07:00

January(Januarius)
Dedicated to janus, the Roman god of doors, with two faces looking backward to previous year and forward to New Year

February(februarius)
Februa was the Roman purification festival, took place of this time of year.

March(martius)
From mars, the Roman god of war.

April(aprilis)
From aperire, latin for open, beacuse plant begin to open to this month.

May(maius)
Probably comes from maia, the Roman goddess of growth and increase.

June(junius)
Either from a Roman family name junius which means young, or perhaps after the goddess juno.

July(julius)
Named after julius caesar by mark antony in 44b.c. before it was quintiles fifth month of Roman calendar.

August(augustus)
Named after king Augustus in 8 b.c.

September(september)
From septem, seven, seventh month of Roman calendar.

October(october)
From octo, eight as an octopus which has eight legs.

November(november)
From novem the ninth month in Roman calendar.

December(december)
From decem the tenth month of Roman Calendar

Who Discovered America?

2007-06-17T00:49:00.001-07:00

Colombus in order to find a route to Asia sailed West but he landed in America by chance. He thought that the place he has found was Asia. However it was during Amerigo Vespucci's second trip that he realised that it was not India but a new continent. So no doubt Columbus found the new place but it was Vespucci who recognised it.

Children at War

2007-06-17T00:48:00.000-07:00

Children are being used for Military action as soldiers or saboteurs.They were used in Poland during the Warsaw Uprising. Later on during the Vietnam war, Iran-Iraq war, Africa specially in Congo and in Palestinian occupied terrotries.
Red Hand Day on February 12 is an annual commemoration day to draw public attention to the practice of using children as soldiers in wars and armed conflicts.

Pandita Ramabai

2007-06-17T00:47:00.000-07:00

I am posting here the link of my Term paper on PANDITA RAMABAI, which I submitted to my sir, Prof.Sumir Sharma during M.A. II year in History at Arya College, Ludhiana.
http://sumir-history.blogspot.com/2007/01/term-paper-trial.html#links

Hannibal Barca

2007-06-17T00:44:00.000-07:00

bust of Hannibal Barca

Hannibal Barca (247 BC - 183BC)is considered as one of the finest commanders in the history. He was the son of Hamilcar Barca.He belonged to Carthage (Carthigian). HIs greatest achievement was his march from Iberia over the Pyreness and the Alps into northern Italy with his army including war elephants.

During his invasion of Italy, he defeated Romans in the battles at Trebia, Trasimene and Cannae.However he could not attack Rome whic was heavily guarded.He remained in Italy for over a decade.However had to return when Romans invaded Carthage, where he was defeated in the battle of Zama.He fled to Seleucid court and then to the Bithynian court.When Romans demanded his surrender, he preffered to commit suiciderather than submit.

victory for behenji

2007-06-17T00:43:00.001-07:00

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has won the elections in Uttar Pradesh with clear majority.Patty's election symbol is Elephant.Mayawati will become Chief minister of highest populous state(Uttar Pradesh) for the 4th time.

This party was actually formed by Kanshi Ram in 1984.He was inspired by the philosophy of Ambedkar.Themainaim of the party was to mobilise the Dalits(who are regarded by some as lowest among the Indian castes).
The party represents Indianised form of Communism.In the beginning it was only for Dalits but in 2007 it fielded 94 Brahmin candidates.The party has won 207 seats in total.

Crusades

2007-06-17T00:30:00.000-07:00

What were the Crusades?

The word crusade has been adopted from the French word ‘croisade’, which means “Marked by the Cross.”
A series of military conflicts of a religious character are termed as the Crusades. These wars (1095 - 1291) were sanctioned by the Pope in the name of Christendom. The aim was to recapture Jerusalem and the sacred "Holy Land" from Muslim rule. These were launched in order to halt the expansion of the Muslim Seljuq dynasty into Anatolia. They reacted in response to a call for help by the Eastern Orthodox Byzantine Empire.
In 1076, the Muslims occupied Jerusalem, which was the holiest place for Christians- Jesus, was born in nearby Bethlehem, had spent most of his life in Jerusalem and was also crucified in Jerusalem on Calvary Hill. It was because of this Christians called Jerusalem the "City of God".
However, Jerusalem was extremely important for the Muslims also. Muhammad, the founder of Islam, had been there. So Muslim world cherished when Jerusalem was captured. A beautiful dome - called the Dome of the Rock - was built on the rock where Muhammad was said to have sat and prayed. It was so holy that no Muslim was allowed to tread on the rock or touch it when visiting the Dome.
Therefore the Christian fought to get Jerusalem back while the Muslims fought to keep Jerusalem. These wars were to last nearly 200 years

Pope Urban II at the Council of Clermont, where he preached an impassioned sermon to take back the Holy Land.

CHRONOLOGY OF THE CRUSADES

Though the list is not complete but it is still useful for understanding Crusades
Nov, 1095: Pope Urban II presided over the Council of Clermont and called the First Crusade into being
Spring, 1096: Peasants' Crusade set out from Europe
Aug, 1096: Emperor Alexius of Constantinople shipped the Peasants' Crusade over the Bosporus
Late Summer, 1096: First Crusade leaders were departing Europe
Oct 1096: Peasants' Crusade annihilated in Anatolia by the Turks
Spring, 1097: First Crusade contingents assembling in Constantinople
End of Apr, 1097: First Crusade began the march in Anatolia to Nicaea
Late May, 1097: Nicaea surrendered to Alexius
Late June, 1097: First Crusaders marched overland from Nicaea toward Dorylaeum
Oct 21, 1097: Crusaders arrived before Antioch; long, bitter siege ensued
Early Feb 1098: Emperor Alexius' General Tacitius left the siege of Antioch
Mar 10, 1098: Citizens of Edessa gave Baldwin control of the city
Jun 1, 1098: Stephen of Blois & a large group of French left the siege of Antioch
Jun 3, 1098: Firuz opened Antioch to Bohemond and the First Crusaders
Jun 5-9, 1098: Kerbogha arrived before Antioch & besieged the besiegers
Jun 14, 1098: Peter Bartholomew found the Lance
Jun 28, 1098: Crusaders beat back Kerbogha's siege of Crusader Antioch
Nov 27-Dec 11, 1098: Crusaders captured M'arrat-an-Numan; army restless for Jerusalem
Jan 13, 1099: Raymond of Toulouse led the first contingent away from Antioch and toward Jerusalem
Feb 14, 1099: Raymond began the desultory siege of Arqah, near Tripoli
Late Mar, 1099: Godfrey and Robert of Flanders joined the siege of Arqah
Mid-May, 1099: Raymond finally gave up on Arqah; all present marched to Jerusalem
Jun 6, 1099: Citizens of Bethlehem invited Tancred to protect them
Jun 7, 1099: Godfrey et al. arrived before Jerusalem
Jun 13, 1099: Crusaders failed to take Jerusalem by storm
Jul 15, 1099: Godfrey breached the walls of Jerusalem near Herod's Gate and soon was elected the "Defender of the Holy Sepulchre"
Aug 12, 1099: Crusaders beat back the Fatimids at Ascalon
1100-18: Baldwin I, King of Jerusalem
1113: Hospitallers of Jerusalem recognized by the papacy as an independent group
1118-31: Baldwin II, King of Jerusalem
1118-9: Hugh of Payns created the Order of the Temple
1124: Fall of Tyre to Crusaders; now most of the coast in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem
1131-43: Fulk of Anjou, King of Jerusalem
Dec, 1144: Zengi took Edessa, sparked the Second Crusade
Dec, 1145: Pope Eugenius III issued Quantum praedecessores to initiate the Second Crusade
1146: Bernard of Clairvaux active in preaching the crusade
Oct, 1147: Lisbon fell to crusaders and Portuguese; Almeria fell to Spanish
Jul 1148: Louis VII of France, Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, Emperor Conrad III in the East on the Second Crusade
Sep, 1144: Zengi was assassinated; Nur ad-Din acceeded to Aleppo
1143-63: Baldwin III, King of Jerusalem
Jul 15, 1149: Dedication of the Crusader Church of the Holy Sepulchre
Apr, 1154: Nur ad-Din took Damascus, united Muslim Syria
1160s: Series of invasions by Crusaders into Egypt
1163-74: Amaury, King of Jerusalem
1169: Shirkuh became vizier in Egypt and accepted Nur ad-Din's leadership
1174-85: Baldwin IV, King of Jerusalem
May 1174: Nur ad-Din died
Oct, 1174: Saladin took Damascus
Nov, 1177: Crusader army defeated Saladin at Mont Gisard
1183: Saladin took Aleppo
1185-6: Baldwin V, King of Jerusalem
1186-94: Guy of Lusignan, King of Jerusalem
Jul 4, 1187: Saladin won the Battle of Hattin, and took most of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem
May, 1189: Emperor Frederick I (Barbarossa) left Europe on the Third Crusade
Jun 10, 1190: Frederick I drowned in Anatolia
Jul 1190: Kings Philip of France and Richard of England set out on the Third Crusade
Winter 1190-1: French and English stayed in Sicily
Jul 12, 1191: Acre surrendered to Kings Philip, Richard and Guy; Philip departed the Holy Land for France shortly afterward
Sep 7, 1191: Richard met Saladin at the Battle of Arsuf
Nov-Dec 1191: Richard's Crusaders marched toward Jerusalem but turned back to the coast
Jun 1192: Richard's Crusaders marched again toward Jerusalem but turned back again
Oct 9, 1192: Richard Lionheart departed the Holy Land
Mar 4, 1193: Saladin died
1197: Abortive Crusade of Emperor Henry VI
1198-1224: Albert of Buxtehude expanded the Baltic Crusades
Aug 1198: Pope Innocent III called the Fourth Crusade
1199: Political Crusade against Markward of Anweiler
Nov 1202: Venetians and Crusaders sacked Zara, a Christian port on the Dalmatian Coast
Apr, 1204: Fourth Crusade sacked Constantinople
1208: Pope Innocent III called the Albigensian Crusade
Jul 1212: King Alfonso VIII of Castile expanded the Reconquista; King Sancho VII of Navarre won the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa
Dec 1215: Pope Innocent III issued Ad liberandam calling the Fifth Crusade during the Fourth Lateran Council
Dec 1217: Fifth Crusaders attacked Mount Tabor
May 1218: Fifth Crusaders began the siege of Damietta
Aug 1221: Fifth Crusade, in the Nile Delta, surrendered
Jun 1228: Emperor Frederick II, King of Jerusalem through marriage to Isabell (Yolanda), sailed East on the Sixth Crusade
Feb 1229: Al-Kamil surrendered Jerusalem to Emperor Frederick II
1240s: Popes Gregory IX and Innocent IV called Political Crusades against Emperor Frederick II
1248: King Louis IX departed for the Holy Land on the Seventh Crusade
Jun, 1249: Louis reached Damietta
Apr, 1254: Louis departed the Holy Land
Jul, 1270: Louis IX's Last Crusade; Louis died in North Africa
1291: The Fall of Acre
Oct 1307: King Philip IV surpessed the Templars in France
1330-1523: Hospitallers continued crusade action from Rhodes
1334: Crusader navy defeated Turkish pirates in the Gulf of Edremit
1334-1402: Crusaders held the port of Smyrna
1365: Crusaders under Peter I of Cyprus sacked Alexandria
1396: Crusade of Nicopolis
1426: Egyptians gained control over Cyprus
1492: Fall of Granada and the appearance at subsequent celebrations of a Genoese ship's captain with odd ideas about sailing to India
1798: Fall of Hospitallers on Malta to Napoleon