Editing Ancient history (section)

===South Asia===
{{Main|History of South Asia|History of India|Ancient India}}
[[File:TNMStandingBuddha.jpg|thumb|[[Standing Buddha from Gandhara (Tokyo)|Standing Buddha from Gandhara]], 1st century AD.]]
[[File:Maurya Empire, c.250 BCE network model v01.png|thumb|upright=1.5|[[Mauryan Empire]], including notable cities, conceptualized as a network of core regios connected by networks of communication and trade, with large areas with peripheral or no Maurya control.{{efn-la|See [[Maurya Empire#cite_note-map_network_model-1|note on Mauryan Empire]].}}]]

[[Paleolithic|Paleolithic tools]] have been discovered in India dating to 200,000 years ago, and Neolithic sites are known from near the [[Indus Valley]] dating to around 8000 BC.{{sfn|Bentley|Ziegler|2006|p=87}} Agriculture began in the Indus Valley around 7000 BC,{{sfn|Bentley|Ziegler|2006|p=87}} and reached the [[Ganges Valley]] by 3000 BC.{{sfn|Parker|2017|p=43}} [[Barley]], [[cotton]], and wheat were grown and the population had domesticated cattle, goats, and sheep.{{sfn|Bentley|Ziegler|2006|p=87}}

The [[Indus Valley Civilisation]] developed around 3000 BC in the [[Indus River|Indus]] and [[Ghaggar-Hakra River|Ghaggar-Hakra]] river valleys of north-east [[Afghanistan]], Pakistan, and western India. Another name for this civilisation is Harappan,{{sfn|Hart-Davis|2012|p=58}} after the first of its cities to be excavated, [[Harappa]] (now in the Pakistani province of [[Punjab (Pakistan)|Punjab]]).<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Basham|first1=A. L.|last2=Dani|first2=D. H.|author-link1=Arthur Llewellyn Basham|title=(Review of) A Short History of Pakistan: Book One: Pre-Muslim Period.|journal=Pacific Affairs|date=Winter 1968–1969|volume=41|issue=4|pages=641–643|doi=10.2307/2754608|jstor=2754608}}</ref> Harappan civilisation grew out of the earlier agricultural communities as they evolved into cities. These communities created and traded jewelry, figurines, and seals that appear widely scattered throughout Mesopotamia, Afghanistan, and Iran.{{sfn|Parker|2017|p=74}} [[Chicken]]s were domesticated in addition to the earlier crops and animals.{{sfn|Bentley|Ziegler|2006|p=89}} They developed their own writing system, the [[Indus Valley script]], which is still mostly undeciphered.{{sfn|Hart-Davis|2012|p=58}} The exact structure of society and the way the cities were governed is not known.{{sfn|Bentley|Ziegler|2006|p=89}} By about 1600 BC, the Indus Valley culture had abandoned many of their cities, including [[Mohenjo-Daro]].{{sfn|Parker|2017|p=75}} The exact reason for this decline is not known.{{sfn|Bentley|Ziegler|2006|p=92}}

Indo-European speaking peoples began to spread into India about 1500 BC. The ''[[Rigveda]]'', in [[Sanskrit]], dates to this period and begins a period often known as the [[Vedic period]].{{sfn|Bentley|Ziegler|2006|p=94}} Between 1500 and 500 BC these peoples spread throughout most of India and had begun to found small cities.{{sfn|Bentley|Ziegler|2006|p=95}} Vedic society was characterised by the ''[[Varna (Hinduism)|varna]]'' system which divided society into four broad castes, which were later elaborated. By the end of the Vedic period, this way of organising society had become central to Indian society.{{sfn|Bentley|Ziegler|2006|pp=96–97}} Religion in the late Vedic period was evolving into [[Hinduism]], which spread throughout Southeast Asia.{{sfn|Parker|2017|p=122}} [[Siddhartha Gautama]], born around 560 BC in northern India, went on to found a new religion based on his ascetic life – [[Buddhism]]. This faith also spread throughout Eastern and Southeastern Asia after his death.{{sfn|Parker|2017|p=123}} This period also saw the composition of the epics ''[[Ramayana]]'' and ''[[Mahabharata]]''.{{sfn|Parker|2017|p=122}}

The kingdom of [[Magadha (Mahajanapada)|Magadha]] rose to prominence under a number of dynasties that peaked in power under the reign of [[Ashoka]] Maurya, one of India's most legendary and famous emperors. During the reign of Ashoka, the four dynasties of [[Chola dynasty|Chola]], [[Chera dynasty|Chera]], and [[Pandya]] were ruling in the South, while [[Devanampiya Tissa]] (250–210 BC) controlled [[Anuradhapura]] (now [[Sri Lanka]]). These kingdoms, while not part of Ashoka's empire, were in friendly terms with the [[Maurya Empire]]. An alliance existed between Devanampiya Tissa and Ashoka of India,{{sfn|Mendis|1999|p=11}} who sent Buddhist missionaries to Sri Lanka.{{sfn|Wijesooriya|2006|p=34}}

Most of [[North India]] was reunited under the [[Gupta Empire]] beginning under [[Chandragupta I]] around AD 320. Under his successors the empire spread to include much of India except for the Deccan Plateau and the very south of the peninsula.{{sfn|Bentley|Ziegler|2006|p=212}} This was a period of relative peace, and the Gupta rulers generally left administration in local rulers. The Gupta Empire was weakened and ultimately ruined by the raids of [[Huna people|Hunas]] (a branch of the [[Hephthalite]]s emanating from Central Asia), and the empire broke up into smaller regional kingdoms by the end of the fifth century AD. India would remain fragmented into smaller states until the rise of the [[Mughal Empire]] in the 1500s.{{sfn|Bentley|Ziegler|2006|p=213}}