Indo Pak History Timeline

[Ara Kistner]

Scholarsdebate the origin of Indo-Aryan peoples in northern India. Many have rejected the claim of Indo-Aryan origin outside of India entirely, claiming the Indo-Aryan people and languages originated in India. Other origin hypotheses include an Indo-Aryan Migration in the period 1800-1500 BCE, and a fusion of the nomadic people known as Kurgans. Most history of this period is derived from the Vedas, the oldest scriptures in Hinduism, which help chart the timeline of an era from 1750-500 BCE, known as the Vedic Period.

These migrations took place over several centuries and likely did not involve an invasion, as hypothesized by British archaeologist Mortimer Wheeler in the mid-1940s. Wheeler, who was Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India from 1944 to 1948, suggested that a nomadic, Indo-European tribe, called the Aryans, suddenly overwhelmed and conquered the Indus River Valley. He based his conclusions on the remains of unburied corpses found in the top levels of the archaeological site of Mohenjo-daro, one of the great cities of the Indus Valley Civilization, whom he said were victims of war. Yet shortly after Wheeler proposed his theory, other scholars dismissed it by explaining that the skeletons were not those of victims of invasion massacres, but rather the remains of hasty burials. Wheeler himself eventually admitted that the theory could not be proven.

The Kurgan Hypothesis is the most widely accepted scenario of Indo-European origins. It postulates that people of a so-called Kurgan Culture, a grouping of the Yamna or Pit Grave culture and its predecessors, of the Pontic Steppe were the speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language. According to this theory, these nomadic pastoralists expanded throughout the Pontic-Caspian steppe and into Eastern Europe by early 3000 BCE. The Kurgan people may have been mobile because of their domestication of horses and later use of the chariot.

The Vedic Period refers to the time in history from approximately 1750-500 BCE, during which Indo-Aryans settled into northern India, bringing with them specific religious traditions. Most history of this period is derived from the Vedas, the oldest scriptures in the Hindu religion, which were composed by the Aryans in Sanskrit.

Vedic Civilization is believed to have been centered in the northwestern parts of the Indian subcontinent and spread around 1200 to the Ganges Plain, a 255-million hectare area (630 million acres) of flat, fertile land named after the Ganges River and covering most of what is now northern and eastern India, eastern parts of Pakistan, and most of Bangladesh. Many scholars believe Vedic Civilization was a composite of the Indo-Aryan and Harappan, or Indus Valley, cultures.

The Indo-Aryans in the Early Vedic Period, approximately 1750-1000 BCE, relied heavily on a pastoral, semi-nomadic economy with limited agriculture. They raised sheep, goats, and cattle, which became symbols of wealth.

The Indo-Aryans also preserved collections of religious and literary works by memorizing and reciting them, and handing them down from one generation to the next in their sacred language, Sanskrit. The Rigveda, which was likely composed during this time, contains several mythological and poetical accounts of the origins of the world, hymns praising the gods, and ancient prayers for life and prosperity.

Organized into tribes, the Vedic Aryans regularly clashed over land and resources. The Rigveda describes the most notable of these conflicts, the Battle of the Ten Kings, between the Bharatas tribe and a confederation of ten competing tribes on the banks of what is now the Ravi River in northwestern India and eastern Pakistan. Led by their king, Sudas, the Bharatas claimed victory and merged with the defeated Purus tribe to form the Kuru, a Vedic tribal union in northern India.

After the 12th century BCE, Vedic society transitioned from semi-nomadic to settled agriculture. From approximately 1000-500 BCE, the development of iron axes and ploughs enabled the Indo Aryans to settle the thick forests on the western Ganges Plain.

This agricultural expansion led to an increase in trade and competition for resources, and many of the old tribes coalesced to form larger political units. The Indo-Aryans cultivated wheat, rice and barley and implemented new crafts, such as carpentry, leather work, tanning, pottery, jewelry crafting, textile dying, and wine making.

Economic exchanges were conducted through gift giving, particularly between kings and priests, and barter using cattle as a unit of currency. While gold, silver, bronze, copper, tin, and lead are mentioned in some hymns as trade items, there is no indication of the use of coins.

The invasion of Darius I (a Persian ruler of the vast Achaemenid Empire that stretched into the Indus Valley) in the early 6th century BCE marked the beginning of outside influence in Vedic society. This continued into what became the Indo-Greek Kingdom, which covered various parts of South Asia and was centered mainly in modern Afghanistan and Pakistan.

DOD issues Force Health Protection Guidance on COVID-19 and other infectious respiratory diseases. The memorandum rescinds the Consolidated COVID-19 Force Health Protection Guidance issued on March 24, 2023 and provides guidance to the Department on protecting its workforce and stakeholders from transmissible respiratory diseases and maintaining a healthy workforce and Force readiness.

Food and Drug Administration authorizes changes to simplify use of bivalent mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. This action authorizes the current bivilant vaccines to be used for all doses administered to individuals 6 months of age or older. It also authorizes individuals 65 years of age and older, and most individuals with certain kinds of immunocompromise, who have received a single dose of bivalent vaccine to receive an additional dose.

Deputy Secretary of Defense issues guidance for implementing rescission of August 24, 2021, and November 30, 2021, COVID-19 vaccination requirements for service members. The requirement was established by the Fiscal Year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act.

Secretary of Defense rescinds the August 24, 2021, memorandum mandating that members of the Armed Forces under DOD authority be vaccinated against COVID-19, and the memorandum of November 30, 2021, pertaining to the vaccination of National Guard and Reserve personnel. This rescission requirement was established by the Fiscal Year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act.

Food and Drug Administration announces bebtelovimab is not currently authorized for emergency use in any U.S. region for COVID-19 treatment because it is not expected to neutralize Omicron subvariants BQ.1 and BQ.1.1.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announces that the order requiring a negative COVID-19 test before boarding a flight to the United States will be rescinded, effective June 12, 2022 at 12:01 a.m. ET.

DOD announces it has recently released Consolidated Department of Defense Coronavirus Disease 2019 Force Health Protection Guidance to serve as a uniform policy for DOD's continued response to COVID- 19, and serve as the DOD COVID-19 Workplace Safety Plan required by Executive Order 13991, "Protecting the Federal Workforce and Requiring Mask-Wearing," January 20, 2021.

DOD, in coordination with the Department of Health and Human Services, awards contract modifications to Abbott Rapid Dx North America, LLC, and iHealth Labs Inc. to purchase COVID-19 antigen over-the-counter tests in support of POTUS' 1B free at-home COVID-19 tests.

DOD announces that the Pentagon Reservation Health Protection Condition Level will change from Charlie to Bravo, effective immediately. DoD also announces that, in accordance with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance, masks are not required indoors in Pentagon Reservation facilities in Arlington County and the City of Alexandria, VA, as their COVID-19 community levels are designated as low.

Food and Drug Administration approves the second COVID-19 vaccine. Previously known as the Moderna vaccine; it will be marketed as Spikevax for COVID-19 prevention in individuals 18 years of age and older.

DOD, in coordination with the Department of Health and Human Services, awards a contract modification to iHealth Lab Inc. to procure an additional 104,166,665 over-the-counter COVID-19 test kits in support of POTUS' 500M free at-home tests.

DOD, in coordination with the Department of Health and Human Services, awards a contract to Siemens Healthineers to procure 50M over-the-counter COVID-19 test kits in support of POTUS' 500M free at-home tests.

Administration requires insurance companies and group health plans to cover the cost of over-the-counter, at-home COVID-19 tests, so people with private health coverage can get them for free starting today.

DOD, in coordination with the Department of Health and Human Services, awards contracts to Abbott Rapid Dx North America, LLC, iHealth Lab Inc., and Roche Diagnostics Corporation, purchasing a combined total of 380M over-the-counter COVID-19 test kits in support of POTUS' 500M free at-home tests.

DOD announces that, in coordination with the Department of Health and Human Services, it has awarded contracts to Atlantic Trading, LLC, and Medea Inc., purchasing a combined total of 27M over-the-counter COVID-19 test kits in support of POTUS' 500M free at-home tests.

DOD, in coordination with the Department of Health and Human Services, awards a $13.3M contract to Revival Health Inc. to procure over-the-counter COVID-19 test kits in support of POTUS' 500M free at-home tests.

DOD, in coordination with the Department of Health and Human Services, awards a $51.6M contract to Goldbelt Security LLC to purchase COVID-19 antigen over-the-counter test kits in support of POTUS' 500M free at-home tests.

Food and Drug Administration amends emergency use authorization for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to expand the use of a single booster to include persons 12 through 15 years of age; shorten the time between completion of primary vaccination and booster to at least five months; and allow for a third primary series dose for certain immunocompromised children ages 5 through 11.

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