jan 1, 1200 BC - Various Kingdoms Start to Appear in India

Description:

In India the Indo-Aryan people had settled the continent and were now living at a time known as the Vedic period. Society consisted of largely tribal and farming groups, and soon a social class system developed, known as the varnas, whereby people were placed into one of four classes. The highest class included priests and teachers, and the lowest referred to laborers and service providers.

The indigenous Dravidian people of the continent were pushed out of most of their settlements and thought of as 'impure' by the new settlers; however, a large concentration continued to live in the south, and on the island of Sri Lanka. From the 13th Century BCE, various kingdoms, or realms, had developed throughout the continent known as the Janapadas - a Sanskrit word meaning "territory; or place."

While some residents of the Indian subcontinent managed to trade with out-siders, the majority of the region was initially cut off from the rest of the world as the entire the west side boarded the enormous Thar Desert, and the North and East were marked by the Himalayan Mountain range. This meant that through the early years, India developed a unique society with its own culture, beliefs, and people found nowhere else in the world.