Vasco da Gama reaches the southern coast of India, at Calicut, after sailing across the Indian Ocean from east Africa

Nanak, the first of the Sikh gurus, takes to the road as a wandering teacher

Vasco da Gama wins a trading treaty for Portuguese merchants after bombarding the Indian port of Calicut into submission

The Portuguese establish a presence in Sri Lanka, trading in the island's crop of cinammon

The Portuguese seize Goa and make it their colonial capital in India

In a battle at Panipat Babur defeats the sultan of Delhi, launching the Mughal empire in India

Victory at Khanua, over a Hindu confederation of Rajput rulers, brings Babur a tenuous control over most of northwest India

The first Mughal emperor, Babur, dies in India and is succeeded by his son, Humayun

The Portuguese force the local ruler to cede to them the island of Bombay

Francis Xavier reaches Goa, at the start of the great mission to the east that will last the nine years until his death

Humayun, driven west into Afghanistan by Sher Shah, loses his family's new inheritance in India

Civil war within India enables Humayun to win a battle at Sirhind and recover the Mughal throne

Humayun dies and Akbar, the greatest of the Mughal emperors, inherits the throne at the age of thirteen

Akbar builds his new palace of Fatehpur Sikri close to the shrine of a Sufi saint

The tomb in Delhi of the Mughal emperor Humayun introduces the shape of dome which characterizes his dynasty's architecture

Arjan, the fifth Sikh guru, builds many gurdwaras and commences the holy city of Amritsar

On the death of Akbar, his son Jahangir succeeds to the Mughal throne

The British East India establishes a 'factory' (a secure warehouse for the storing of Indian goods) at Surat, on the west coast

Sir Thomas Roe, the first British ambassador to India, arrives at the court of the Mughal emperor Jahangir

The Mughal school of painting reaches a peak of perfection in the reign of Jahangir

Shah Jahan orders that all recently built Hindu temples shall be destroyed, ending the Mughal tradition of religious tolerance

Shah Jahan begins building the Taj Mahal as a memorial for his wife, Mumtaz Mahal

The British East India Company completes the construction of Fort St George in Madras

A young Hindu prince, Shivaji, captures Bijapur in a campaign against Muslim rulers, enabling him to establish the large and long-lasting Maratha empire

For the final years of his life the emperor Shah Jahan is held a prisoner, by his son Aurangzeb, in Agra's Red Fort