---
title: "Which came first, India or television?"
description: "India vs television: television came first, by 22 years — 1925 against 1947. What happened in each case, and why the dates are often given differently."
url: https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/india-vs-television/
site: "At One Place"
---

# Which came first, India or television?

**Which came first, India or television?: television**

1925 — 22 years before India

television came first, by 22 years. Baird transmitted the first moving greyscale image.

## Side by side

|  | India | television |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Year | 1947 | 1925 |
| Date | 1947-08-15 | 1925-10-02 |
| Category | country | invention |
| What happened | India became independent from British rule. | Baird transmitted the first moving greyscale image. |

## India

India became independent on 15 August 1947 and a republic on 26 January 1950, when the constitution took effect — which is why the country has two national days. It remained a dominion with the British monarch as head of state for those two and a half years. India as a civilisation is thousands of years older; India as a state with its present borders is younger than the ballpoint pen.

## television

John Logie Baird transmitted a recognisable moving image of a ventriloquist's dummy in October 1925 using a mechanical spinning-disc system. Philo Farnsworth demonstrated fully electronic television in 1927, and it was that approach, not Baird's, that every subsequent television used. Regular public broadcasting began in 1936, which means television is younger than the talking film and older than the ballpoint pen.

## Common questions

### Which came first, India or television?

television, by 22 years — 1925 against 1947.

### When did India start?

1947. India became independent from British rule.

### When did television start?

1925. Baird transmitted the first moving greyscale image.

## Related pages

- [Germany or India?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/germany-vs-india/)
- [Pakistan or television?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/pakistan-vs-television/)
- [India or the United States?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/india-vs-united-states/)
- [India or Pakistan?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/india-vs-pakistan/)
- [India or LEGO?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/india-vs-lego/)
- [India or Samsung?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/india-vs-samsung/)
- [India or McDonald's?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/india-vs-mcdonalds/)
- [the hamburger or television?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/hamburger-vs-television/)
- [Fanta or India?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/fanta-vs-india/)
- [Fanta or television?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/fanta-vs-television/)
- [the bicycle or television?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/bicycle-vs-television/)
- [photography or television?](https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/photograph-vs-television/)

## Sources

- Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation (https://www.wikidata.org/) [CC0 1.0]
- Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History — Smithsonian Institution (https://naturalhistory.si.edu/)