India,country that occupies the greater part ofSouth Asia. It is made up of 28 states and eightunion territories, and its national capital isNew Delhi, built in the 20th century just south of the historic hub of Old Delhi to serve as India’s administrative center. Its government is aconstitutionalrepublic that represents a highlydiverse population consisting of thousands of ethnic groups and hundreds of languages. India became the world’s most populous country in 2023, according to estimates by theUnited Nations.

It is known from archaeological evidence that a highly sophisticated urbanized culture—theIndus civilization—dominated the northwestern part of the subcontinent from about 2600 to 2000bce. From that period on, India functioned as a virtually self-contained political and cultural arena, which gave rise to a distinctive tradition that was associated primarily withHinduism, the roots of which possibly can be traced to the Indus civilization. Other religions, notablyBuddhism andJainism, originated in India—though their presence there is now quite small—and throughout the centuries residents of the subcontinent developed a richintellectual life in such fields asmathematics,astronomy,architecture,literature,music, and thefine arts.

Quick Facts

See article:flag of India

Audio File:National anthem of India

Head Of Government:

Prime Minister:Narendra Modi

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Capital:

New Delhi

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Population:

(2026 est.) 1,425,900,000

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Currency Exchange Rate:

1 USD equals 92.049 Indian rupee

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Head Of State:

President:Droupadi Murmu

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Form Of Government:

multiparty federal republic with two legislative houses (Council of States [245¹]; House of the People [543])

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Official Languages:

Hindi; English

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Official Religion:

none

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Official Name:

Bharat (Hindi); Republic of India (English)

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Total Area (Sq Km):

3,287,263

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Total Area (Sq Mi):

1,269,219

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Monetary Unit:

Indian rupee ₨²

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Urban-Rural Population:

Urban: (2018) 34%

Rural: (2018) 66%

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Life Expectancy At Birth:

Male: (2021–2025) 69.4 years

Female: (2021–2025) 72.7 years

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Literacy: Percentage Of Population Age 15 And Over Literate:

Male: (2023) 85%

Female: (2023) 70%

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Gni Per Capita (U.S.$):

(2023) 2,540

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1. Includes 12 members appointed by the president.
2. The first symbol for the rupee was officially approved in July 2010, and coins and banknotes with the new symbol began being issued in late 2011.

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Throughout its history, India was intermittently disturbed by incursions from beyond its northern mountain wall. Especially important was the coming ofIslam, brought from the northwest byArab,Turkish,Persian, and other raiders beginning early in the 8th centuryce. Eventually, some of those raiders stayed; by the 13th century much of the subcontinent was under Muslim rule, and the number of Muslims steadily increased. Only after the arrival of thePortuguese navigatorVasco da Gama in 1498 and the subsequent establishment ofEuropeanmaritime supremacy in the region did India become exposed to major external influences arriving by sea, a process that culminated in the decline of the ruling Muslim elite and absorption of the subcontinent within theBritish Empire.

Direct administration by the British, which began in 1858, effected a political and economic unification of the subcontinent. As a result of theIndian Independence Movement, British rule came to an end on August 14-15, 1947, celebrated annually asIndependence Day. The subcontinent was then partitioned along religious lines into two separate countries—India, with a majority of Hindus, andPakistan, with a majority of Muslims; the eastern portion of Pakistan later split off to formBangladesh. Many British institutions stayed in place (such as theparliamentary system of government); English continued to be a widely used lingua franca; and India remained within theCommonwealth.Hindi became the official language (and a number of other local languages achieved official status), while a vibrantEnglish-language intelligentsiathrived.

India remains one of the most ethnically diverse countries in the world. Apart from its many religions and sects, India is home to innumerable castes and tribes, as well as to more than a dozen major and hundreds of minor linguistic groups from several language families unrelated to one another. Religious minorities, including Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Jains, still account for a significant proportion of the population. Earnest attempts have been made to instill a spirit of nationhood in so varied a population, but tensions between neighboring groups have remained and at times have resulted in outbreaks of violence. Yet social legislation has done much toalleviate the disabilities previously suffered by formerly “untouchable” castes, tribal populations, women, and other traditionally disadvantaged segments of society. At independence, India was blessed with several leaders of world stature, most notablyMohandas Karamchand (Mahatma) Gandhi andJawaharlal Nehru, who were able togalvanize the masses at home and bringprestige to India abroad. The country has played an increasing role in global affairs.

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Contemporary India’s increasing physical prosperity and cultural dynamism—despite continued domestic challenges and economic inequality—are seen in its well-developedinfrastructure and a highly diversified industrial base, in its pool of scientific and engineering personnel (one of the largest in the world), in the pace of its agricultural expansion, and in its rich and vibrant cultural exports of music, literature, and cinema. Though the country’s population remains largely rural, India has three of the most populous andcosmopolitan cities in the world—Mumbai (Bombay),Kolkata (Calcutta), andDelhi. Three other Indian cities—Bengaluru (Bangalore),Chennai (Madras), andHyderabad—are among the world’s fastest-growing high-technology centers, and most of the world’s major information technology and software companies now have offices in India.

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The history section of the articlesPakistan andBangladesh discuss those countries since their creation.

Land

India’s frontier, which is roughly one-third coastline, abuts six countries. It is bounded to the northwest byPakistan, to the north byNepal,China, andBhutan; and to the east byMyanmar (Burma).Bangladesh to the east is surrounded by India to the north, east, and west. Theisland country ofSri Lanka is situated some 40 miles (65 km) off the southeast coast of India across thePalk Strait andGulf of Mannar.

The land of India—together with Bangladesh and most of Pakistan—forms a well-defined subcontinent, set off from the rest of Asia by theimposing northern mountain rampart of theHimalayas and by adjoining mountain ranges to the west and east. In area, India ranks as the seventh largest country in the world.

Much of India’s territory lies within a large peninsula, surrounded by theArabian Sea to the west and theBay of Bengal to the east;Cape Comorin (Kanniyakumari), the southernmost point of the Indian mainland, marks the dividing line between those two bodies of water. India has twounion territories composed entirely of islands:Lakshadweep, in the Arabian Sea, and theAndaman and Nicobar Islands, which lie between the Bay of Bengal and theAndaman Sea.

Relief

It is now generally accepted that India’s geographic position, continental outline, and basic geologic structure resulted from a process ofplate tectonics—the shifting of enormous, rigid crustal plates over the Earth’sunderlying layer of molten material. India’s landmass, which forms the northwestern portion of theIndian-Australian Plate, began to drift slowly northward toward the much larger Eurasian Plate several hundred million years ago (after the former broke away from the ancient southern-hemispheric supercontinent known asGondwana, or Gondwanaland). When the two finally collided (approximately 50 million years ago), the northern edge of the Indian-Australian Plate was thrust under the Eurasian Plate at a low angle. The collision reduced the speed of the oncoming plate, but the underthrusting, or subduction, of the plate has continued into contemporary times.

The effects of thecollision and continued subduction are numerous and extremely complicated. An important consequence, however, was the slicing off of crustal rock from the top of the underthrusting plate. Those slices were thrown back onto the northern edge of the Indian landmass and came to form much of the Himalayan mountain system. The new mountains—together with vast amounts of sediment eroded from them—were so heavy that the Indian-Australian Plate just south of the range was forced downward, creating a zone of crustal subsidence. Continued rapid erosion of the Himalayas added to the sediment accumulation, which was subsequently carried by mountain streams to fill the subsidence zone and cause it to sink more.

India’s present-day relief features have beensuperimposed on three basic structural units: the Himalayas in the north, theDeccan (peninsular plateau region) in the south, and theIndo-Gangetic Plain (lying over the subsidence zone) between the two. Further information on the geology of India is found in the articleAsia.