I
officially Republic of India
Country, South Asia.
It fronts the Bay of Bengal on the southeast and the Arabian Sea on the southwest. Area: 1,222,559 sq mi (3,166,414 sq km). Population (2002 est.): 1, 047,671,000. Capital: New Delhi . The peoples of India comprise widely varying mixtures of ethnic strains drawn from peoples settled in the subcontinent before the dawn of history or from invaders. Languages: Hindi, English (both official); many other languages, including Bengali, Kashmiri, Marathi, and Urdu; Dravidian languages ; hundreds from several other language families. Religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Islam, Christianity. Currency: rupee. India has three major geographic regions: the Himalayas which form its northern border; the Indo- Gangetic Plain , formed by the alluvial deposits of three great river systems, including the Ganges (Ganga); and the southern region, noted for the Deccan plateau. Agricultural products include rice, wheat, cotton, sugarcane, coconut, spices, jute, tobacco, tea, coffee, and rubber. The manufacturing sector is highly diversified and includes both heavy and high-technology industries. India is a republic with two legislative houses; its chief of state is the president, and the head of government is the prime minister. India has been inhabited for thousands of years. Agriculture in India dates back to the 7th millennium BC, and an urban civilization, that of the Buddhism and Jainism arose in the 6th century BC in reaction to the caste-based society created by the Vedic religion and its successor, Hinduism. Muslim invasions began с AD 1000, establishing the long-lived Delhi sultanate in 1206 and the Mughal dynasty in 1526. Vasco da Gama 's voyage to India in 1498 initiated several centuries of commercial rivalry among the Portuguese, Dutch, English, and French. British conquests in the 18th and 19th centuries led to the rule of the British East India Company , and direct administration by the British Empire began in 1858. After Mohandas K. Gandhi helped end British rule in 1947, Jawaharlal Nehru became India's first prime minister, and he, his daughter Indira Gandhi , and grandson Rajiv Gandhi guided the nation's destiny for all but a few years until 1991. The subcontinent was partitioned into two countries
India, with a Hindu majority, and Pakistan , with a Muslim majority
in 1947. A later clash with Pakistan resulted in the creation of Bangladesh in 1971. In the 1980s and '90s, Sikhs sought to establish an independent state in Punjab , and ethnic and religious conflicts took place in other parts of the country as well. The Kashmir region in the northwest has been a source of constant tension.
II
[c mediumvioletred] (as used in expressions)
Republic of India
East India Co.
{{link=East India Co. Dutch">East India Co. Dutch
East India Co. French
All India Muslim League
India rubber plant