Indo-Aryan Migration into South Asia
- Date
- c. 1500 BCE
- Category
- Social & demographic
- Region
- NW Indian Subcontinent
- Era
- Ancient Civilizations
- Significance
During the early-to-mid second millennium BCE, speakers of Indo-Aryan languages are widely held to have entered the northwestern Indian subcontinent from Central Asia, descendants of pastoralist populations originating on the Eurasian (Pontic-Caspian) steppe.
This movement, distinct from the earlier collapse of the Indus cities, brought the Sanskrit language, the horse-drawn chariot and the religious world reflected in the Rigveda. Archaeological cultures such as the Gandhara Grave (Swat) culture (from c. 1600-1500 BCE), and later the Cemetery H and Painted Grey Ware cultures, are commonly linked to these incoming and admixing populations. Recent ancient-DNA studies indicate a significant influx of steppe-derived ancestry into South Asia in this period, supporting a migration model over the older 'invasion' theory. The arrival and assimilation of Indo-Aryan speakers reshaped the linguistic, religious and social landscape of northern India, though the topic remains scholarly and politically contested.
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Empires active in c. 1500 BCE
- New Kingdom of Egypt1550 BCE – 1077 BCE
- Hittite Empire1650 BCE – 1178 BCE
- Shang Dynasty1600 BCE – 1046 BCE
- Mitanni1500 BCE – 1300 BCE
- Elamite Kingdom2700 BCE – 539 BCE
Related social & demographic events
- Emergence of the Lapita cultural complex in the Bismarck Archipelagoc. 1500–1300 BCE
- Early Bantu Expansion from the Cameroon–Nigeria Highlandsc. 1000 BCE
- Plague of Athens430–426 BCE
- Anatomically modern Homo sapiens appears in Africac. 300,000 years ago
- Antonine Plague165-180 CE
- Rise of the Yamnaya Culture and Steppe Pastoralismc. 3300 BCE
Further reading
The wider story
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