INDIA

(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

India, officially the The Republic of India (Hindi: भारत), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second most populous country, and the largest liberal democracy in the world. India has a coastline of over seven thousand kilometres,^[1] and borders Pakistan^[2] to the west, Nepal, the People's Republic of China and Bhutan to the north-east, and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east. In the Indian Ocean, it is adjacent to the island nations of Sri Lanka, Maldives and Indonesia.

The people of India have had a continuous civilization and culture since 3300 B.C., when the inhabitants of the Indus River valley developed an urban culture based on commerce and sustained by agricultural trade.^[3] Over the millenia, the subcontinent became a centre of important trade routes, cultural development and vast empires. Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism and Jainism all have their origins in India, while Islam and Christianity enjoy a strong cultural heritage having arrived through trade even before foreign invasions. Despite countless invasions over the past 4000 years, Indian culture and society has been so resilient, that it has either thrown away or completely absorbed any foreign influences, with the social fabric largely remaining unchanged and intact. With the decline of the Mughal Empire, various European countries tried to establish trade posts, most prominently the British, who ultimately colonialised the subcontinent. With the diverse subcontinental populace united in one entity, there was a realization of the vast empires of the past. Thus, an intense movement for social reforms and self-rule commenced to restrict the British from garnering any gains, and instead forge the subcontinental entity into a nation. As a result, India emerged as a nation-state in 1947. Modern India's population, wildlife, geographical terrain and climate system are among the most diverse in the world.