Test: Tracing Changes Through a Thousand Years

The art and science of graphically representing a geographical area, usually on a flat surface such as a map or chart is known as Cartography, and the person who makes maps is called a cartographer.

The Quran is the holy book of the Islamic world. Collected over a 23-year period during the 7th century C.E., the Quran is said to consist of Allah's revelations to the prophet Muhammad, transmitted through the angel Gabriel.

Rajputs, a name derived from "Rajaputra", the son of a ruler. Between the eighth and fourteenth centuries the term was applied more generally to a body of warriors who claimed Kshatriya caste status.

Ziyauddin Barani was a fourteenth-century chronicler and Muslim political thinker of the Delhi Sultanate located in present-day North India during Muhammad bin Tughlaq and Firoz Shah's reign.

In the 14th century, the poet Amir Khusrau noted that there was different language in every region of this land:

• Sindhi, Lahori, Kashmiri, Dvarsamudri (in southern Karnataka)
• Telangani (in Andhra Pradesh)
• Gujari (in Gujarat)
• Ma‘bari (in Tamil Nadu),
• Gauri (in Bengal)
• Awadhi (in eastern Uttar Pradesh)
• Hindawi (in the area around Delhi)

Various social and political groups emerged between 700 and 1750:

• The Rajputs emerged as a powerful group during this period. They belonged to the Kshatriya caste.
• Marathas, Sikhs, Jats and Ahoms were the other groups who occupied power at the regional level during this time period.
• The Kayasthas caste was proficient in writing and keeping records and emerged as an important group during the period.

Shias believe that Muhammad explicitly named Ali as his successor at Ghadir Khumm and Muslim leadership belonged to him which had been determined by divine order.

Islam was interpreted in a variety of ways by its followers:

• The Shia Muslims who believed that the Prophet Muhammad's son-in-law, Ali was the legitimate leader of the Muslim community
• The Sunni Muslims who accepted the authority of the early leaders (Khalifas) of the community and the succeeding Khalifas.

Merchants and migrants first brought the teachings of the Holy Quran to India in the seventh century.
Muslims regard the Quran as their holy book and accept the sovereignty of the one God, Allah, whose love, mercy, and bounty embrace all those who believe in Him, without regard to social background.

James Mill, a Scottish historian divided Indian history into 3 periods in his book 'The History of British India':
(i) The period when India was ruled by mostly Hindu Kings and Emperors.
(ii) This the period when the whole subcontinent came under the influence of Turkish, Afghan, and Arab invaders, who were Muslims.
(iii) In the end it was British rule.