Timeline, 1791–2026
Key dates in relations between India and Germany, and between India and Europe. Each entry is marked as culture and scholarship, or as politics and trade.
- 1791Culture and scholarship
Georg Forster’s German Śakuntalā, translated from William Jones’s English version. Goethe’s verses on the play appear the same year.
- 1808Culture and scholarship
Friedrich Schlegel publishes Über die Sprache und Weisheit der Indier in Heidelberg.
- 1816Culture and scholarship
Franz Bopp’s study of the Sanskrit verb system founds comparative Indo-European linguistics.
- 1818Culture and scholarship
August Wilhelm Schlegel is appointed at the new University of Bonn, which becomes Germany’s first centre of Indology.
- 1823Culture and scholarship
A. W. Schlegel prints the Bhagavad Gītā with a Latin translation. Alexander von Humboldt buys two Tamil palm-leaf manuscripts in Paris, the first in Berlin’s collection.
- 1825Culture and scholarship
Wilhelm von Humboldt reads the first of two papers on the Bhagavad Gītā to the Prussian Academy of Sciences (30 June 1825; the second follows on 15 June 1826).
- 1827Culture and scholarship
Hegel replies to Humboldt in a two-part review in the Jahrbücher für wissenschaftliche Kritik.
- 1849Culture and scholarship
Max Müller’s edition of the Rig Veda begins to appear; six volumes follow by 1874, much of the printing paid for by the East India Company.
- 1851Culture and scholarship
Schopenhauer calls the Upanishads, which he read in a Latin translation of a Persian one, “the solace of my life”.
- 1896Culture and scholarship
Swami Vivekananda visits the philosopher Paul Deussen in Kiel and travels on with him to London.
- 1907Politics and trade
Bhikaiji Cama raises an early Indian flag at the International Socialist Congress in Stuttgart.
- 1922Culture and scholarship
Hermann Hesse publishes Siddhartha; he never travelled to India itself.
- 1930Culture and scholarship
Rabindranath Tagore shows his paintings in Berlin and visits Einstein at Caputh.
- 1951Politics and trade
The Federal Republic and India agree to exchange diplomatic missions (7 March).
- 1962Politics and trade
India establishes relations with the European Economic Community.
- 1972Politics and trade
India and the German Democratic Republic establish relations (8 October).
- 1988Culture and scholarship
Günter Grass publishes Zunge zeigen, written after a year in Calcutta.
- 1994
- 2000Politics and trade
India and Germany sign the agenda for their Strategic Partnership (May). The first EU–India Summit meets in Lisbon (June).
Embassy of India, Berlin, Indian Ministry of External Affairs
- 2004
- 2007
- 2013Politics and trade
The trade talks stall after fifteen rounds.
- 2022Politics and trade
The trade talks are relaunched (17 June). India and Germany sign a migration and mobility agreement (5 December).
- 2023Politics and trade
The first EU–India Trade and Technology Council meets (May). IMEC is agreed at the G20 in New Delhi (September).
- 2024Politics and trade
Germany publishes its “Focus on India” strategy; the 7th intergovernmental consultations meet in New Delhi (October).
- 2025Politics and trade
The College of Commissioners visits India for the first time (February). The Commission and the High Representative propose “A New Strategic EU–India Agenda” (September).
- 2026Politics and trade
Chancellor Merz in India (January). The EU–India Summit concludes the trade negotiations, adopts “Towards 2030” and signs a security and defence partnership (27 January).
- 2026Politics and trade
The third Trade and Technology Council meets in Brussels; formal talks on Horizon Europe begin (July). The Commission proposes signature of the trade agreement (September).
Sources
- J.-U. Hartmann, LMU Munich: Śakuntalā in Germany (PDF)
- BBAW Deutsches Textarchiv: F. Schlegel, Über die Sprache und Weisheit der Indier (1808)
- Encyclopaedia Britannica: Franz Bopp
- Who Was Who in Indology: August Wilhelm von Schlegel
- Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin: South Asian manuscripts
- H. Herring (ed. and tr.), Hegel on the Episode of the Mahābhārata known by the name Bhagavad-Gītā by Wilhelm von Humboldt (ICPR)
- Gifford Lectures archive: Friedrich Max Müller
- Urs App, Schopenhauer-Forschungsstelle Mainz (PDF)
- vivekananda.net: chronology, September 1896
- Encyclopaedia Britannica: Bhikaiji Cama
- Goethe-Institut: Hermann Hesse and India
- Käthe-Kollwitz-Museum Berlin: Tagore in Berlin, 1930
- Auswärtiges Amt: 75 years of Germany–India relations
- Ministry of External Affairs of India: India–EU relations brief, July 2026
- Outlook India: Günter Grass’s Show Your Tongue
- ICCR: Tagore Centre Berlin
- Embassy of India, Berlin: bilateral brief, 15 Jun 2026
- European Parliament, Legislative Train: EU–India FTA, investment and GI agreements
- European Commission: The EU–India trade agreement
- Federal Ministry of the Interior, 5 Dec 2022: India–Germany migration and mobility agreement
- MEA briefing on the 7th India–Germany IGC, 25 Oct 2024 (via GlobalSecurity)
- EEAS/Commission: A New Strategic EU–India Agenda, JOIN(2025) 50, 17 Sep 2025
- Council of the EU: Joint Statement, 16th EU–India Summit, 27 Jan 2026 (ST 5727/26)
- European Commission: Joint statement, 3rd EU–India Trade and Technology Council, 15 Jul 2026
- Science|Business, 16 Jul 2026: India starts formal Horizon Europe talks
- European Commission, DG Trade: EU trade relations with India
Facts and figures checked 17 October 2026.