1857 - War of Independence
The uprising of 1857-58 became the great divide in nineteenth century South Asian history. Understated by British historians as Indian Mutiny or Sepoy Rebellion and referred to with some exaggeration by later Indian nationalists as First War of Independence, the uprising nevertheless heralded formal end of the Mughal Empire and marked the end of company rule in India as well. In general, the uprising was a reaction to British expansionism and outcome to the policies of modernization and annexation of Governor General Lord Dalhousie (1848-56), especially in Oudh (Avadh, now part of Indian state of Utter Pradesh) in 1956. The immediate spark for mutiny by sepoys (Indian soldiers employed by East India Company) was the introduction of new Enfield rifle, which had cartridge allegedly greased with cow or pig fat, tips of which had to be bitten off before loading their weapons. Both Muslim and Hindu soldiers were outraged at this offence to their religious scruples and refused to comply. British officers responded by dismissing regiment after regiment from the Bengal Army for refusing to load their weapons.
The British Parliament passed the Government of India Act of 1858, which transferred authority to British Crown, represented in India by Governor General, who thereafter also had the title of Viceroy.
1858 - Aligarh Movement
Another response was led by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan (1817-98) which was called Aligarh Movement after the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College (now Aligarh University), which was founded in 1875 at Aligarh in north-central India. Sir Syed considered access to British education as the best means of social mobility for the sons of Muslim gentry under colonial rule.
1866 - Deoband Movement
Deoband Movement was started by Haji Muhammad Abid and Maulana Muhammad Yaqub in 1866. This further gave strength to Aligarh Movement. Deoband Madrassah started functioning in 1866 under the supervision of Muhammad Yaqub.
1867 - Urdu Hindi Controversy
During Muslim rule, Urdu emerged as the most common language of north-western provinces of India. It was declared as official language and all official records were written in this language. In 1867, some prominent Hindus started a movement in Banaras in which they demanded replacement of Urdu with Hindi, and the Persian script with Deva Nagri script, as court language in the north-western provinces. The reason for opposing Urdu was that, the language was written in Persian script, which was similar to the Arabic script and Arabic was the language of the Quran; the Holy Book of Muslims. The movement grew quickly and within a few months spread throughout Hindu population of north-western provinces of India. The headquarters of this movement were in Allahabad. This situation provoked Muslims to come out in order to protect the importance of Urdu language. The opposition by Hindus towards Urdu language made it clear to the Muslims of the region that Hindus were not ready to tolerate the culture and traditions of Muslims.
1884 - Anjamum Himayat-i-Islam
Towards the end of 19th century, the impact of Sir Syed's Aligarh Movement was felt all over the Subcontinent and Punjab was no exception. In March 1884, Maulana Qazi Hamid-ud-Din invited his pupil; Maulvi Ghulam Ullah Qasuri and a number of other public spirited persons to a small gathering and set up Anjuman Himayat-i-Islam. On September 22, 1884, the establishment of Anjuman was formally announced and Qazi Hamid-ud-Din was elected as its first president. Anjuman's aim was to arrange religious and general education for girls and boys and to counter act the propaganda against Islam.
1885 - Indian National Congress was formed
Meanwhile, beginnings of the Indian nationalist movement were to be discerned in the increasing tendency to form all India associations representing various interests. English speaking Indians, predominantly middle class but from different parts of the country, were discovering efficacy of associations and public meetings in propagating their views to a winder audience and in winning the attention of British Government. In 1885 Indian National Congress was founded to formulate proposals and demands to present to British. Congress worked and helped Indian-British Rule, but it refused to do so after World War I, the idea of the territorial integrity of India and opposition to any sectarian division of India, however, always remained sacrosanct to Congress.
1891- Fall of Hunza
Hunza, remote kingdom bordering China fell into hands of British, bringing an end to the expansion of British Raj.
1893 - Durand Line Demarcated
1894 - Nadva-tul-Ulema
This institution came into existence in 1894 as a result of the efforts of some religious minded government officials; Ulema and Sufis, who wished to bring Ulema together and remove sectarian differences. The main work of this organization was the establishment of a Dar-ul-Uloom at Lucknow. For some time Shibli Nomani, Syed's co-worker for many years, was associated with the institution. Under his influence it gained importance, but in 1914 he was forced to resign.
1898 - Sir Syed Ahmed Khan; the founder of Aligarh movement passed away. He was one of the greatest personalities of the subcontinent.
1905 - Partition of Bengal
The partition scheme was announced on September 1, 1905. The new province called Eastern Bengal and Assam, consisted of Assam and Eastern and Northern Bengal. On the area of 106,650 sq miles with a population of 31 million out of which 18 million were Muslims and 12 million were Hindus.
1906 - Demand at Simla
It was in October 1906 that a delegation of about 70 Muslims led by Agha Khan was received in the Ball Room of Viceroy's House at Simla by Lord Minto. They asked for separate representation of Muslims in all levels of Government.
1906 - AII India Muslim League was formed
At the dawn of twentieth century, a number of factors convinced Muslims of the need, to have an effective political organization. All India Muslim League was founded by Nawab Salimullah Khan at Dhaka, mainly with the objective of safeguarding the political rights and interests of Muslims.
1916 - Lucknow Pact
The Congress - Muslim League rapprochement was achieved at Lucknow sessions of the two parties in 1916 and a joint scheme of reforms was adopted. In Lucknow Pact, as the scheme was commonly referred to, Congress accepted the principle of separate electorates and Muslims, in return for 'weightage' to Muslims of minority provinces, agreed to surrender their thin majorities in Punjab and Bengal. The post Lucknow Pact period witnessed Hindu-Muslim harmony and the two parties came to hold their annual sessions in the same city and passed resolutions of identical contents.