As the Indus Valley civilization crumbled, a group of hunters and herderes entered the region from the northwest. These people, the Aryans, settled down and began to farm. They left behind sacred writings called the Vedas. The Vedas reveal Aryan ideas about religion and social structure. Society was organized into four groups, priests, warriors, artisans and farmers, and enslaved people. Growing out Aryan culture and religion, Hinduism is both a religion and a way of life.

After the Aryans, other groups with new cultures invaded South Asia through the Khyber Pass in the northwestern Hindu Kush mountains. The Mauryan Empire, established by the first of these groups, maintained control from about 320 to 180 B.C and ruled all but the southernmost parts of the Indian peninsula. About 500 years later, the Gupta Empire came into power. From about A.D 320 to 550, this Hindu civilization was one of the most advanced in the world. Science, technology, and the arts flourished. The numerals we call Arabic today were most likely developed in India during the Gupta period and introduced to Europe by Arab traders. Muslim missionaries and traders first entered India in the 700's. by the 1100s Muslim armies from Mongolia, Turkey, and Persia had conquered northern India. The Musliled Mogul Empire dominated the Indian subcontinent for several centuries. During this era, many South Asians converted to Islam.The final invaders, Europeans, came by sea. Portuguese traderes arrive first in about 1500. They were followed by the french and the British. In the late 1700s, the British expelled the French. Though Portuguese strongholds remained, the British were the major European power in South Asia at this time.The british called their Indian empire the British raj, the Hindi word for empire. The British introduced the English language to South Asia, restructured the educational system, built railroads, and developed a civil service. British influence is still seen in some elements of Indian culture.