Chronological Order of Events:

● AD 594 onwards: Books in China were printed by rubbing

paper.
● AD 768-770: Hand-printing technology was introduced into
Japan from China by the Buddhist missionaries.
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● AD 868: The oldest Japanese book Buddhist Diamond

Sutra was printed.
● 1295: Marco Polo, a great explorer, on his return to Italy,
brought the knowledge of producing books with woodblocks
to Europe.
● 1430s: Johann Gutenberg developed the first-known
printing press.
● 1448: Gutenberg perfected the system of casting the metal
types for the letters of the alphabet.
2

● 1450-1550: Printing presses were set up in most countries

of Europe.
● 1508: Erasmus' a Latin scholar and Catholic reformer,
criticised the excesses of Catholicism but kept his distance
from Martin Luther. He wrote 'Adages'.
● 1517: The religious reformer Martin Luther wrote Ninety
Five Theses' criticizing many of the practices and rituals of
the Roman Catholic Church. 3

● 1558: An Index of Prohibited Books' was formulated by the

Roman Church to control publishers and booksellers,
● 1579: Catholic priests printed the first Tamil Book in Cochin.
● 1674: About 50 books had been printed by Jesuit priests in
Konkani and in Kanara languages.
4

● 1707: The Act of Union between England and Scotland that

resulted in formation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain.
● 1710: The Dutch Protestant missionaries had printed 32
Tamil texts. Many of them were translations of older works.
● 1713: The first Malayalam book was printed.
● 1780:
- James Augustus Hickey began to edit the Bengal
Gazette, a weekly magazine and described as “a
commercial paper open to all, but influenced by none”.
 - First Newspaper published by an Indian, Gangadhar
Bhattacharya (who was close to Rammohun Roy) was
weekly Bengal gazette.
● 1780s: There was an outpouring of literature, in France that
mocked the royalty and criticised their morality.
● 1789: French Revolution
● 1790s: Setting up of Jacobin Clubs, French armies moved
into Holland, Belgium, Switzerland and much of Italy.
● 1791: A London publisher, wrote in his diary about the
increase in the sale of books.
● 1797: Napoleon invades Italy, Napoleonic wars begin.
● 1798: A failed revolt led by Wolfe Tone and his United
Irishmen.
● 1801: Ireland was forcibly incorporated into the United
Kingdom.
● 1804: The Civil Code, usually known as the Napoleonic
Code, introduced.
● 1810: The first printed edition of ‘Ramcharitmanas' of
Tulsidas, a sixteenth-century text, came out from Calcutta.
● 1812: The Grimm brothers published their first collection of
Grimms Fairy Tales.
● 1813: Napoleon lost the battle of Leipzig.
● 1815: Fall of Napoleon, after losing at battle of Waterloo.
● 1815: Treaty of Vienna, Autocratic conservative regimes set
up.
● 1820s: The Calcutta Supreme Court passed certain
regulations to control press freedom.
● 1821:
- Rammohun Roy published the ‘Sambad Kaumudi'
newspaper.
- To oppose his opinions the Hindu orthodoxy
commissioned the ‘Samachar Chandrika’ newspaper.
● 1822: Two Persian newspapers were published, ‘Jam-i-
Jahan Nama' and Shamsul Akhbar'. Gujarati newspaper,
Bombay Samachar was published.
● 1824: English use poet Lord Byron organized funds. He
5

later went to fight in the war, where he died of fever in 1824.

● 1830: The first upheaval took place in France. The Bourbon
kings were overthrown by liberals. Louis Philippe was
installed as constitutional monarch.
● 1831: An armed rebellion against Russian rule in Poland. A
young man, Giuseppe Mazzini, was sent into exile after a
failed revolution in Liguria.
● 1832: The Treaty of Constantinople recognized Greece as
an independent nation.
● 1833: A merchant travelling from Hamburg to Nuremberg:
encountered different custom barriers, different weights
measures and currencies. Giuseppe Mazzini, founding of
Young Europe in Berne.
● 1834: A customs union or Zollverein was formed at the
initiative of Prussia and joined by most of the German
states. Giuseppe Mazzini participated in a republican
uprising in Piedmont.
● 1835: Governor-General Bentinck revised press laws
because of urgent petitions by editors of English and
vernacular newspapers.
● 1845: Weavers in Silesia led a revolt against contractors.
● 1848:
- Peasants' uprising. In Europe a revolution led by the
educated middle classes was under way. Food
shortages and widespread unemployment in Paris.
- The revolution of the liberals in France. Louise Philippe
forced to flee.
- The autocratic monarchies of Central and Eastern
Europe began to introduce changes.
- 831 elected representatives marched in a festive
procession to take their place in the Frankfurt
parliament was convened in the Church of St. Paul on
18 May 1848.
- Artist Philip Veit prepared painting of Germania.
● 1848: The German middle class tried to unite the different
regions of the German confederation into a nation-state
governed by an elected parliament but suppressed
● 1850: Postage stamps, with the figure of Marianne
representing the Republic of France.
● 1854: Garibaldi supported Victor Emmanuel II in his efforts
to unify the Italian states.
● 1857: The Revolt of 1857 in India.
● 1859: Sardinia-Piedmont succeeded in defeating the
Austrian forces. Unification of Italy.
● 1860: A large number of armed volunteers under the
leadership of Giuseppe Garibaldi, along with regular troops,
marched into South Italy and the Kingdom of the Two
Sicilies and succeeded in winning support of local peasants
to drive out the Spanish rulers. Garibaldi led the famous
Expedition of the "Thousand to South Italy'.
● 1861: Victor Emmanuel II was proclaimed king of united
Italy.
● 1866-71: Unification of Germany.
● 1867: The Habsburg rulers granted more autonomy to the
Hungarians. The Deoband Seminary was founded. It
published thousands of ‘fatwas' telling Muslim readers how
to conduct themselves in their everyday lives.
7

● 1870: During the war with Prussia, France withdrew its

troops from Rome and the Papal states were finally joined
to Italy. Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay wrote Vande
Mataram and created the image of Bharat Mata.
● 1871: The Prussian king, Kaiser William I, was proclaimed
German Emperor in a ceremony held at Versailles. Jyotiba
Phule, wrote about the injustices of the caste system in
‘Gulamgiri’.
● 1876: Rashsundari Debi wrote her autobiography Amar
Jiban in Bengali.
● 1877: The Statesman was founded.
● 1878: The Vernacular Press Act was passed. It was
modelled on the Irish Press Laws.
● 1880s: The Naval Kishore Press at Lucknow and the Shri
Venkateshwar Press in Bombay published many religious
texts in vernaculars. Many Bengali women writers like
8

Kailashbashini Debi wrote books highlighting the

 experiences of women. Tarabai Shinde and Pandita
Ramabai wrote about the miserable lives of upper-caste
Hindu women, especially widows.
● 1898: A failed revolt led by Wolfe Tone and his United
Irishmen.
● 1901: Ireland was forcibly incorporated into the United
Kingdom.
● 1905: The Act of Union between England and Scotland that
resulted in formation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain.
Painting of Bharat Mata was developed by Abanindranath
Tagore.
● 1907: Punjab revolutionaries were deported, Bal
Gangadhar Tilak wrote with great sympathy about them in
his “Kesari".
● 1908: Bal Gangadhar Tilak imprisoned. This provoked
widespread protests all over India.
● 1909: Gandhi wrote the farnous bookHind Bware
● 1912: The English parliament seized power from the
monarchy.
● 1914: First World War.
● 1915: Mahatma Gandhi returned to India from South Africa.
January 1915.
● 1917: Gandhi takes up the cause of Indigo workers
Champaran. Gandhi organised a Satyagraha to support the
peasant of Kheda-Gujarat.
● 1918: Gandhi organised a Satyagraha in Ahmedabad for
cotton mill workers. Crops failed in many parts of India.
● 1919: Rowlatt Act passed by Imperial Legislative Council.
March 1919. Civil Disobedience Movement started 6-April
1919. Police fired upon a peaceful procession in Amritsar.
10-April 1919. Jallianwala Bagh massacre 13-April 1919.
The Sedition Committee Report under Rowlatt strengthened
controls and imposed penalties on various newspapers
published in India.
● 1920: Crops failed in many parts of India + Influenza
epidemic. Both caused 12 to 13 million deaths. Khilafat
Committee was formed. March 1919. A militant guerrilla
 movement spread in Gudem Hills of Andhra Pradesh.
Jawaharlal Nehru toured villages of Awadh (now in Uttar
Pradesh) June 1920. Oudh Kisan Sabha was set up headed
by Jawaharlal Nehru, Baba Ramchandra and a few others
October 1920.
● 1920-21: The import of foreign cloth halved.
● 1921: Mahatma Gandhi and Shaukat Ali toured extensive
mobilizing support for Non-Cooperation Movement.
Summer 1920. Calcutta session, Gandhi convinced other
leaders to start a Non-Cooperation Movement September
1920. At Nagpur Congress adopted Non-Cooperation
programme December 1920. Non-Cooperation- Khilafat
Movement began January 1921. The houses of talukdars
and merchants were attacked. 1921. Police fired at
peasants near Raebareli 6-Jan 1921.
● 1922: Chauri Chaura incident. Mahatma Gandhi withdraws
the Non-Cooperation Movement February 1922. Gandhi
also spoke about liberty of speech, liberty of the press and
the freedom of association.
● 1924: Alluri Sitaram Raju was captured and executed and
overtime became a folklore.
● 1926-1930: Agricultural prices began to fall and collapsed
after 1930.
● 1927: The Congress and the Muslim League made efforts
to renegotiate an alliance.
● 1928:
Vallabhai Patel led the peasant movement in Bardoli, a
taluka in Gujrat, against enhancement of land revenue,
known as Bardoli Satyagraha.
Simon Commission arrived, protest by people “Go back,
Simon”.
Lala Lajpat Rai led people to protest against the Simon
Commission. He was lathicharged; due to that he died after
a week.
M.R. Jayakar of the Hindu Mahasabha strongly opposed
efforts at compromise.
 Hindustan Socialist Republican Party (HSRA) was founded
by Bhagat Singh, Jatin, Ajoy Ghosh and others.
● 1929: At Lahore, Congress dermanded Purna Swaraj
December 1929. Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutta
threw a bomb in the Legislative Assembly April 1929. A
vague offer by Lord Irwin of 'dominion status October 1929.
● 1930: Celebrated as Independence Day 26-Jan 1930. Sir
Muhammad Iqbal reiterated the importance of separate
electorates for the Muslims. Mahatma Gandhi wrote a letter
to Viceroy Irwin stating 11 demands 31-Jan 1930. Started
the salt march from Sabarmati Ashram with 78 of his trusted
volunteers. 11-Mar 1930. Reached Dandi and manufactured
salt and started Civil Disobedience Movement 6-Apr 1930.
● 1930: Abdul Gaffar Khan was arrested in Peshawar. April
1930.
● 1931: The Civil Disobedience Movement called off Pact with
Irwin (Gandhi-Irwin Pact) 5-Mar 1931. Bhagat Singh,
Rajguru and Sukhdev were hanged to death by the
Government 23-Mar1931. Gandhiji went to London for
Round Table Conference-II December 1931.
● 1932: Gaffar Khan and Jawaharlal Nehru were arrested.
Gandhiji relaunched the Civil Disobedience Movement
● 1932: Poona Pact September 1932.
● 1934: By 1934, civil disobedience movement lost its
momentum.
● 1938: Kashibaba, a Kanpur millworker, wrote and published
'Chhote Aur Bade Ka Sawal’. The work showed the link
between caste and class exploitation.
● 1935 to 1955: B.R. Ambedkar in Maharashtra and E.Vv.
1

Rarmaswamy Naicker in Madras (Periyar), wrote powerfully

on caste and untouchability.
● 1938: Kashibaba, a Kanpur millworker, wrote and published
'Chhote Aur Bade Ka Sawal’. The work showed the link
between caste and class exploitation.
● 1935 to 1955: B.R. Ambedkar in Maharashtra and E.Vv.
2

Rarmaswamy Naicker in Madras (Periyar), wrote powerfully

on caste and untouchability.
● 1920s: In England, popular works were sold in cheap
series, called the Shilling Series.
● 1930s: Cheap paperback editions.
● 1942: About 90 newspapers were suppressed consequent
to the launch of the Quit India Movement.