India is a independent nation in Asia, or more distinctively, South Asia. It is the seventh largest country by geological area, the second most populous country, and the most populous democratic state in the world. Bound by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal on the east, India has a coastline of 7,517 kilometers (4,671 mi). It borders Pakistan to the west; China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north-east; and Bangladesh and Burma to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka, Maldives, and Indonesia.
Home to the Indus dale development and a region of historic trade routes and huge 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 Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam arrived in the first millennium CE and shaped the region's diverse culture. Increasingly annexed by the British East India Company from the early eighteenth century and colonised by the United Kingdom from the mid-nineteenth century, India became a modern nation-state in 1947 after a struggle for independence that was marked by widespread peaceful resistance.
India is the world's twelfth largest economy at market exchange rates and the third largest economy in purchasing rule. Economic reforms have distorted it into the second fastest growing large economy; however, it still suffers from high levels of poverty, illiteracy, starvation and environmental degradation. A pluralistic, multi-lingual, and multi-ethnic society, India is also home to a multiplicity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats.
Home to the Indus dale development and a region of historic trade routes and huge 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 Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam arrived in the first millennium CE and shaped the region's diverse culture. Increasingly annexed by the British East India Company from the early eighteenth century and colonised by the United Kingdom from the mid-nineteenth century, India became a modern nation-state in 1947 after a struggle for independence that was marked by widespread peaceful resistance.
India is the world's twelfth largest economy at market exchange rates and the third largest economy in purchasing rule. Economic reforms have distorted it into the second fastest growing large economy; however, it still suffers from high levels of poverty, illiteracy, starvation and environmental degradation. A pluralistic, multi-lingual, and multi-ethnic society, India is also home to a multiplicity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats.