Source: MAPS IN MINUTES™ © RH Publications (1997)

A South Asian country occupying most of the southward-pointing peninsula of the Indian subcontinent. It is bounded by Pakistan on the north-west, China, Nepal, and Bhutan on the north, and Myanmar (Burma) on the east.

Physical

India is roughly triangular in shape, most of the northern frontier following the Himalayas, the world’s highest mountains. The two southern sides are formed by a coastline on the Arabian Sea and another on the Bay of Bengal: they are backed by the ranges of the Western and Eastern Ghats. Across a northern belt of the Himalayas, are the Thar (or Great Indian) Desert, the central Punjab watershed with its fields of wheat, the Ganges floodplain, and Bengal. The land rises to the middle of the country, Madhya Pradesh, and the forested hills of Orissa. Extending southward is the Deccan plateau, terminating in the Nilgiri Hills. The southern coasts, Malabar and Coromandel, are famous for their paddy fields and citrus fruit.

Economy

India’s diverse economy ranges from subsistence agriculture to information technology. Historically the economy was highly regulated and virtually closed to imports and foreign investment, but liberalization since the 1990s has promoted growth. Important crops include rice, wheat, oilseed, cotton, jute, tea, and sugar cane; important industries are textiles, chemicals, food processing, steel, transportation equipment, cement, mining, oil, machinery, computer software, and pharmaceuticals. The service sector is expanding rapidly, especially in information-technology and business-outsourcing services. Exports include oil products, gems, machinery, iron and steel, chemicals, vehicles, and clothing. India now has the tenth-largest economy in the world and is expected to become a major power in the 21st century.

History

Inhabited from an unknown date by Dravidian peoples, the Indus civilization sites, dating from c.2500 bc, indicate one of the world’s earliest urban cultures. It was destroyed c.1500 bc, possibly by the Aryan invasions. The next 1000 years saw the evolution of the religious and social systems which remain characteristic of Hinduism. Regional kingdoms rose and fell under Hindu, and later Buddhist, dynasties, but mastery over the entire subcontinent was rarely achieved. The Mauryan empire (c.325–185 bc), was the first all-India empire, only the southern tip remaining outside its influence. After its disintegration, internecine struggles between local powers remained the characteristic pattern.

Waves of invasion from Central Asia from the 11th to the 16th century resulted in Muslim control over the north and the Deccan, and the evolution, through immigration and conversion, of India’s largest minority. Only in a few areas, notably the Rajput states and Vijayanagar, was Hindu political power maintained. Rule by the Moguls (1526–1857), who claimed most of the subcontinent, marked the height of Indo-Muslim civilization. On their decline European trading powers were poised to take advantage of the power vacuum and the renewal of internecine struggle. Victorious over its French rival, the English East India Company laid the basis in the 18th century for the subsequent hegemony of the British Raj. Following the Indian Mutiny control of India passed, via The Act for the Better Government of India (1858) from the English East India Company to the British Crown. The India Acts of the late 19th and early 20th century granted greater Indian involvement in government. The Indian National Congress, founded in 1885, conducted, under the leadership of M. K. Gandhi, major campaigns for self-rule and independence. During 1945–47 Congress negotiated with Britain for independence, which was achieved in 1947 when Britain transferred power to the new states of India and Pakistan.

The Republic (or Union) of India opted to remain within the Commonwealth even though it adopted a republican constitution. The Princely States within the boundaries of the Indian Union plus Kashmir all acceded to the Union, though pressure had to be used in some instances, especially Travancore-Cochin and Hyderabad. Eventually the Princely States were integrated or set up as separate states. The French voluntarily surrendered their few possessions in India, while the Portuguese territories agitating for accession were integrated through military action. The semi-autonomous state of Sikkim was absorbed into India through political pressure but without bloodshed. Pakistan’s claims over Kashmir, the bulk of which is formally integrated with India, remain a source of dispute. India is a federation of 25 states and 6 Union territories organized primarily on a linguistic basis. Since independence it has had three wars with Pakistan and one with China, and the relationship with Sri Lanka is strained by the Indian Tamils’ support for the Sri Lankan Tamils’ movement for autonomy. The Sikh demand for autonomy and their terrorist action remain intractable problems in the Punjab. India’s first Prime Minister was Jawaharlal Nehru (1947–64), who initiated a policy of planned economic growth and non-alignment. Indira Gandhi, his daughter, became Prime Minister in 1966. After splitting the Congress Party and experimenting with autocratic rule (1975–77) she suffered electoral defeat. She returned to power (1980) and adopted a firm approach to separatists in 1984 when she suppressed a militant Sikh movement that demanded autonomy for the Punjab. She was assassinated by a Sikh in the same year. Her son, Rajiv Gandhi, succeeded her as Prime Minister (1984–89). Rajiv failed to win the 1989 election but, after his assassination by Tamil militants, the Congress (I) Party under Narasimha Rao regained political control with a minority government. In December 1992 Hindu extremists demolished the ancient Babri mosque at Ayodhya, which led to severe sectarian clashes in 1993. In 1996 Congress (I) was defeated in general elections by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). A series of short-lived coalition governments followed until the 1999 election produced a stable majority for a BJP-led coalition with Atal Behari Vajpayee as Prime Minister. India carried out five underground nuclear tests in 1998. In December 2004 the Andaman and Nicobar Islands were devastated by the Indian Ocean tsunami. The Congress (I) Party formed a coalition government following the 2004 general elections. The Prime Minister was Manmohan Singh, the Congress (I) leader, Sonia Gandhi (1946– ), having declined the post. The coalition was re-elected in 2009 but the general election of 2014 saw a crushing defeat for Congress (I) and the BJP formed a government under Narendra Modi.