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India (Bharat), officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by
geographical area, the second most populous country, and the largest
democracy in the world. India has a coastline of over seven thousand
kilometers, bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the
west, and the Bay of Bengal on the east. India borders Pakistan[1] to the
west; China, Nepal and Bhutan to the north-east; and Bangladesh and Myanmar
to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka,
Maldives and Indonesia. |
Home to the Indus Valley Civilization and a region of historic trade
routes and vast empires, the Indian subcontinent was identified with its
commercial and cultural wealth for much of its long history. Four major
world religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism originated here,
while Islam, Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism, arrived in the
first millennium CE and shaped India's variegated culture. Politically
controlled by the British East India Company from the early 18th century
and directly administered by Great Britain starting the mid-19th century,
India became a modern nation-state in 1947 after a struggle for
independence marked by widespread use of nonviolent resistance as a means
of social protest. India is a declared nuclear weapons state.
With the world's third largest economy in purchasing power and the second
fastest growing large economy,[2] India has made rapid progress in the
last decade, most notably in information technology, which has led to
claims that it is an emerging superpower.[3] India is currently considered
a great power in international relations and is a member of BRIC and the
G4.[4] Although India's standard of living is projected to rise sharply in
the next half-century,[5] it currently battles high levels of poverty,
persistent malnutrition, and environmental degradation. A multi-lingual,
multi-ethnic society, India is home to a diversity of wildlife in a
variety of protected habitats. |
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Motto: "Satyameva
Jayate Anthem: Jana Gana Mana
Nationl Song:
Vande Mataram
Captial:
New Delhi
Largest City:
Mumbai
Official
Languages: Hindi, English
Population:
1.12 billion Est. 2007
Prime
Minister: Manmohan Singh
President:
Pratibha Patil |
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The name India
is derived from Indus, which is derived from the Old Persian word
Hindu, from Sanskrit Sindhu, the historic local appellation
for the Indus River. The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as
Indio, the people of the Indus. The Constitution of India and common
usage in various Indian languages also recognize Bharat, an
official name of equal status. Hindustan, which is the Persian word
for “Land of the Hindus” and historically referred to northern India, is
also occasionally used as a synonym for all of India.
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Stone Age rock shelters
with paintings at the Bhimbetka rock shelters in Madhya Pradesh are the
earliest known traces of human life in India. The first known permanent
settlements appeared over 9,000 years ago and gradually developed into the
Indus Valley Civilization, dating back to 3300 BCE in western India. It
was followed by the Vedic period, which laid the foundations of
Hinduism and
other cultural aspects of early Indian society, and ended in the 500s BC.
From around 550 BCE, many independent kingdoms and republics known as the
Mahajanapadas were established across the country.
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Paintings at the Ajanta Caves in Aurangabad, Maharashtra, 6th century. |
The
empire built by the Maurya Empire under Emperor Ashoka united most of
South Asia in the third century BCE. From 180 BCE, a series of invasions
from Central Asia followed, including those led by the Indo-Greeks,
Indo-Scythians, Indo-Parthians and Kushans in the north-western Indian
subcontinent. From the third century CE, the Gupta dynasty oversaw the
period referred to as ancient "India's Golden Age." Among the notable
South Indian empires were the Chalukyas, Rashtrakutas, Hoysalas, Pallavas,
Pandyas, and Cholas. Science, engineering, art, literature, astronomy, and
philosophy flourished under the patronage of these kings.
Following invasions from Central Asia
between the tenth and twelfth centuries, much of north India came under
the rule of the Delhi Sultanate, and later the Mughal Empire. Mughal
emperors gradually expanded their Kingdoms to cover large parts of the
subcontinent. Nevertheless, several indigenous kingdoms, such as the
Vijayanagara Empire, flourished, especially in the south. In the
seventeenth and eighteenth century, the Mughal supremacy declined and the
Maratha Empire became the dominant power. From the sixteenth century,
several European countries, including Portugal, the Netherlands, France,
and the United Kingdom started arriving as traders and later took
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advantage of the
fractious nature of relations between the kingdoms to establish colonies
in the country. By 1856, most of India was under the control of the
British East India Company. A year later, a nationwide insurrection of
rebelling military units and kingdoms, variously referred to as the First
War of Indian Independence or Sepoy Mutiny, seriously challenged British
rule but eventually failed. As a consequence, India came under the direct
control of the British Crown as a colony of the British Empire.
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During the first half
of the twentieth century, a nationwide struggle for independence was
launched by the Indian National Congress and other political
organizations. In the 1920s and 1930, a movement led by Mahatma Gandhi,
and displaying commitment to ahimsa, or non-violence, millions of
protesters engaged in mass campaigns of civil disobedience. Finally, on 15
August 1947, India gained independence from British rule, but was
partitioned with independent governments for the Dominion of India and the
Dominion of Pakistan in accordance to wishes of the Muslim League, along
the lines of religion to create the Islamic nation state of Pakistan.
Three years later, on 26 January 1950, India became a republic and a new
constitution came into effect.
Since independence,
India has experienced sectarian violence and insurgencies in various parts
of the country, but has maintained its unity and democracy. It has
unresolved territorial disputes with China, which in 1962 escalated into
the brief Sino-Indian War; and with Pakistan, which resulted in wars in
1947, 1965, 1971, and 1999. India is a founding member of the Non-Aligned
Movement and the United Nations (as part of British India). In 1974, India
conducted an underground nuclear test. This was followed by five more
tests in 1998, making India a nuclear state. Beginning in 1991,
significant economic reforms have transformed India into one of the
fastest-growing economies in the world, adding to its global and regional
clout. |
Mahatma Gandhi (right)
with Jawaharlal Nehru, 1937. Nehru would go on to
become India's first prime minister in 1947. |
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