India

India is a South Asian country on a large peninsula between the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, with the Himalayas along its north. Pakistan, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar are its neighbors, and Sri Lanka and the Maldives lie across the sea.

New Delhi is the capital. Hindi is the official language of the federal government, with English also used officially, and the constitution calls the country Bharat as well. Settled farming began in the Indus basin 9,000 years ago, and the Indus Valley Civilization built Mohenjo-daro, Harappa and Dholavira between 2500 and 1900 BC. Buddhism and Jainism arose in the Ganges plain, the Maurya Empire under Ashoka spread Buddhist edicts on rock and pillars, and the Gupta Empire set up a model of government in the 4th and 5th centuries.

The Cheras and Cholas ruled the south, as Tamil Sangam poetry records, and later the Delhi Sultanate and the Mughal Empire held the north, where Akbar united a vast empire and the arts flourished. Sikhism began in Punjab. The East India Company gained control from coastal outposts, and British Crown rule started in 1858. Mahatma Gandhi led a nonviolent campaign for self-rule, and India became independent on 15 August 1947. The constitution of 1950 made it a federal parliamentary republic, today of 28 states and 8 union territories.

Software and IT services, pharmaceuticals and farming drive the economy, and rivers such as the Ganges and Brahmaputra water the northern plains. Indian classical music split into the Hindustani and Carnatic traditions in the 13th century, Bharatanatyam is the best-known of its eight classical dances, and film songs are sung by playback singers. Its music influenced rock and jazz in the 1960s, and Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism all began there.