India

India is a country in South Asia that is formally recognised as the Republic of India. It is the world’s seventh-largest nation in terms of size, the second-most populous (with over 1.2 billion people), and the most populous democracy. It is bordered on the south by the Indian Ocean, on the south-west by the Arabian Sea, and on the south-east by the Bay of Bengal. Pakistan is on the west; China, Nepal, and Bhutan are on the north-east; and Myanmar (Burma) and Bangladesh are on the east. India is connected to Sri Lanka and the Maldives in the Indian Ocean. Thailand and Indonesia share a maritime frontier with India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

The urban Indus Valley Civilisation of the 3rd millennium BCE flourished on the Indian subcontinent. The oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism started to be written in the following millennium. In the first millennium BCE, caste-based social stratification arose, as did Buddhism and Jainism. The Maurya and Gupta empires consolidated early political power, while the peninsular Middle Kingdoms dominated cultures as far as Southeast Asia. Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, Islam, and Sikhism all arrived in the mediaeval period, contributing to the region’s diverse culture. The Delhi sultanate annexed most of the north, while the Vijayanagara Empire unified the south. The Mughal Empire’s economy developed in the 17th century. The subcontinent was ruled by the British East India Company in the mid-eighteenth century, and the British crown in the mid-nineteenth. In the late 1800s, a nationalist movement arose, which later became known for peaceful resistance under Mahatma Gandhi and eventually led to India’s independence in 1947.