India
| Republic of India
Bhārat Gaṇarājya
|
|
|---|---|
.svg)
Area controlled by India shown in dark green;
claimed but uncontrolled regions shown in light green. |
|
| Capital | New Delhi 28°36.8′N 77°12.5′E |
| Largest city | Mumbai 18°58′30″N 72°49′33″E |
| Official languages | |
| Recognised regional languages | |
| National language | None[8][9][10] |
| Religion | |
| Demonym | Indian |
| Government | Federal parliamentary constitutional socialist[12] republic[1] |
| Ram Nath Kovind | |
| Venkaiah Naidu | |
| Narendra Modi | |
| Dipak Misra | |
| Sumitra Mahajan | |
| Legislature | Parliament of India |
| Rajya Sabha (Council of States) | |
| Lok Sabha (House of the People) | |
| Independence from the United Kingdom | |
|
• Dominion
|
15 August 1947 |
|
• Republic
|
26 January 1950 |
| Area | |
|
• Total
|
3,287,263[5] km2 (1,269,219 sq mi)[d] (7th) |
|
• Water (%)
|
9.6 |
| Population | |
|
• 2016 estimate
|
1,324,171,354[13] (2nd) |
|
• 2011 census
|
1,210,854,977[14][15] (2nd) |
|
• Density
|
396.5/km2 (1,026.9/sq mi) (31st) |
| GDP (PPP) | 2018 estimate |
|
• Total
|
$10.385 trillion[16] (3rd) |
|
• Per capita
|
$7,783[16] (116th) |
| GDP (nominal) | 2018 estimate |
|
• Total
|
$2.848 trillion[16] (5th) |
|
• Per capita
|
$2,134[16] (133rd) |
| Gini (2013) | 33.9[17] medium · 79th |
| HDI (2015) |  0.624[18]medium · 131st |
| Currency | Indian rupee (₹) (INR) |
| Time zone | IST (UTC+05:30) |
| DST is not observed | |
| Date format | DD-MM-YYYY |
| Drives on the | left |
| Calling code | +91 |
| ISO 3166 code | IN |
| Internet TLD | .in |
The Indian subcontinent was home to the urban Indus Valley Civilisation of the 3rd millennium BCE — one of the world's earliest civilizations.[19][g] In the following millennium, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism began to be composed. Large-scale urbanization occurred on the Ganges in the first millennium BCE leading to the Mahajanapadas, and Buddhism and Jainism arose. Early political consolidations took place under the Maurya, Satavahana and Gupta empires; the later peninsular Middle Kingdoms influenced cultures as far as Southeast Asia. In the medieval era, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived, and Sikhism emerged, all adding to the region's diverse culture. Much of the north fell to the Delhi sultanate; the south was united under the Vijayanagara Empire. The country was unified in the 17th century by the Mughal Empire. In the 18th century, the subcontinent came under the Maratha Empire and in the 19th under the British East India Company, later shifting to British crown rule. A nationalist movement emerged in the late 19th century, which later, under Mahatma Gandhi, was noted for nonviolent resistance and led to India's independence in 1947.
In 2017, the Indian economy was the world's sixth largest by nominal GDP and third largest by purchasing power parity.[16] Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India became one of the fastest-growing major economies and is considered a newly industrialised country. However, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, corruption, malnutrition, and inadequate public healthcare. A nuclear weapons state and regional power, it has the second largest standing army in the world and ranks fifth in military expenditure among nations. India is a federal republic governed under a parliamentary system and consists of 29 states and 7 union territories. India is widely recognized for its wide cinema, rich cuisine and lush wildlife and vegetation. It is a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic society and is also home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats.
History
Ancient India
The earliest authenticated human remains in South Asia date to about 30,000 years ago.[32] Nearly contemporaneous Mesolithic rock art sites have been found in many parts of the Indian subcontinent, including at the Bhimbetka rock shelters in Madhya Pradesh.[33] Around 7000 BCE, one of the first known Neolithic settlements appeared on the subcontinent in Mehrgarh and other sites in the subcontinent.[34] These gradually developed into the Indus Valley Civilisation,[35] the first urban culture in South Asia;[36] it flourished during 2500–1900 BCE in northeast Afghanistan to Pakistan and northwest India.[37] Centred around cities such as Mohenjo-daro, Harappa, Dholavira, and Kalibangan, and relying on varied forms of subsistence, the civilisation engaged robustly in crafts production and wide-ranging trade.[36]During the period 2000–500 BCE, in terms of culture, many regions of the subcontinent transitioned from the Chalcolithic to the Iron Age.[38] The Vedas, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism,[39] were composed during this period,[40] and historians have analysed these to posit a Vedic culture in the Punjab region and the upper Gangetic Plain.[38] Most historians also consider this period to have encompassed several waves of Indo-Aryan migration into the subcontinent from the north-west.[39] The caste system, which created a hierarchy of priests, warriors, and free peasants, but which excluded indigenous peoples by labeling their occupations impure, arose during this period.[41] On the Deccan Plateau, archaeological evidence from this period suggests the existence of a chiefdom stage of political organisation.[38] In South India, a progression to sedentary life is indicated by the large number of megalithic monuments dating from this period,[42] as well as by nearby traces of agriculture, irrigation tanks, and craft traditions.[42]
Paintings at the Ajanta Caves in Aurangabad, Maharashtra, 6th century
The Sangam literature of the Tamil language reveals that, between 200 BCE and 200 CE, the southern peninsula was being ruled by the Cheras, the Cholas, and the Pandyas, dynasties that traded extensively with the Roman Empire and with West and South-East Asia.[55][56] In North India, Hinduism asserted patriarchal control within the family, leading to increased subordination of women.[57][50] By the 4th and 5th centuries, the Gupta Empire had created in the greater Ganges Plain a complex system of administration and taxation that became a model for later Indian kingdoms.[58][59] Under the Guptas, a renewed Hinduism based on devotion rather than the management of ritual began to assert itself.[60] The renewal was reflected in a flowering of sculpture and architecture, which found patrons among an urban elite.[59] Classical Sanskrit literature flowered as well, and Indian science, astronomy, medicine, and mathematics made significant advances
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