Language: Hindi, English
Currency: Indian rupee (Rp)
Calling Code: 91
India - officially Republic of India - is a
sovereign country located in South Asia. With its more than 1240
million inhabitants, it is the second country in the world by
population - after the People's Republic of China (with 1370
million) and the most populous democracy in the world. Its surface
is of 3 287 263 km ², which places it in the seventh place among the
most extensive countries of the planet. It borders the Indian Ocean
to the south, with the Arabian Sea to the west and the Gulf of
Bengal to the east, along a coastline of more than 7517 kilometers.
India also borders Pakistan to the west, 10 to the north with China,
Nepal and Bhutan and to the east with Bangladesh and Burma. In
addition, India is located near the islands of Sri Lanka, Maldives
and Indonesia. Its capital is New Delhi and its most populous city
is Bombay.
Home to the Indus Valley culture and a historic region for its trade
routes and great empires, the Indian subcontinent was identified for
its cultural and commercial wealth over most of its long history.
Four of the world's most important religions , Hinduism, Buddhism,
Jainism and Sikhism originated there, while other religions such as
Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam came during the
First Millennium, shaping diverse cultures of the region.
Gradually annexed by the British East India Company since the early
eighteenth century and colonized by the United Kingdom since the
mid-nineteenth century, India became an independent nation in 1947,
following a struggle for independence that was marked by a movement
of nonviolence.
India is a federal republic composed of 29 states and 7 territories
of the Union, with a system of parliamentary democracy. In 2017, the
Indian economy is the third largest in the world and the sixth in
terms of nominal GDP. The economic reforms of 1991 have transformed
it into one of the fastest growing economies; however, it still
suffers from problems such as high levels of poverty, illiteracy,
pandemics, malnutrition and constant violations of women's rights. .
In addition to a pluralistic religious, multilingual and
multi-ethnic society, India also hosts a diverse flora and fauna in
different protected habitats.
In addition, the Republic of India is one of the ten countries that
has a nuclear arsenal and is not a signatory to the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty, given that, in its current terms, it would
not allow it to maintain its atomic armament.
Delhi
Namdapha National Park is natural biosphere reserve in a Arunachal Pradesh state in India. It covers an area of 1985 sq km.
Kaziranga National Park is a nature reserve situated in Golaghat District in India. It covers an area of 430 sq km.
Mahabodhi Temple is a large Bugghist religious complex in the state of Bihar.
Ancient ruins of Indian city Nalanda are located in Nalanda District in India.
Alchi Monastery is a medieval religios complex surrounded by picturesque mountains.
Anshi National Park is a nature reserve situated in Karnataka state in India. It covers an area of 250 km2.
Bandhavgarh Fort is actually a huge fortified palace in the jungles of Umaria District.
Bandhavgarh National Park is famous for its wild life including tigers in the Shahdol District.
Gwalior Fort is an early medieval citadel situated in Madhya Pradesh State in India. It was constructed in the 8th century.
Religious complex of Khajuraho Archaeological Site is located in Chatarpur District in India.
Ajanta Caves are impressive temples carved in the side of a mountain in India.
Kanheri Caves is a large Buddhist religious complex cut into a basalt. It is situated on the western outskirts of Mumbai city.
Sanjay Gandhi National Park is a protected nature reserve situated on the outskirts of Mumbai in India.
Humayun's Tomb is an impressive complex of Mughal emperor Humayun constructed in 1562 AD by his wife Hamida Banu Begum.
Amber Fort is a medieval walled city in a Jaipur District in India. It was constructed in 1592 by Man Singh I of Amber.
Bhangarh is an old settlement that was mysteriosly abandoned in the 18th century.
Jaisalmer Fort is a medieval fortress situated in a town of Jaisalmer in Rajasthan state. It was constructed in 1156 AD by Rao Jaisal.
Brihadeeswarar Temple is a massive religious complex adored with sculptures and colorful frescoes.
Travel guide and information for traveling to medieval city of Agra in India.
Dudhwa National Park is located in Lahhimpur- Kheri District of India.
Fatehpur Sikri is a beautiful palace situated 37 km (23 mi) West of Agra, Agra district in India.
Taj Mahal is constructed by Mughal emperor to commemorate memory of his wife.
Gangotri Glacier is a massive formation in a state of Uttarakhand in India. This marvelous formation covers an area of 1553 km2.
Jim Corbett National Park is located in Rauri Garhwal and Nainital districts of India.
Rajaji National Park is a nature reserve situated in a Uttarakhand state in India. It covers an area of 820 km2.
The official name of the country is the Republic of India, which
comes from the ancient Persian word Hindu, akin to the Sanskrit Sindhu -
the historical name of the Indus River. The ancient Greeks called the
Indians the Indoi (ancient Greek Ἰνδοί) - "the people of the Indus".
The Constitution of India establishes the name in Hindi, the
official language of the country - Bharat, derived from the Sanskrit
name of the ancient Indian king, whose history was described in the
Mahabharata. Since the time of the Mughal Empire, the name Hindustan has
also been used, but it has no official status.
Stone Age
Homo erectus remains found at Hatnor in the Narmada
Valley indicate that India has been inhabited since at least the Middle
Pleistocene, approximately 200,000 to 500,000 years ago. The Mesolithic
era began in the Indian subcontinent about 30,000 years ago and lasted
for about 25,000 years. The first known permanent settlements appeared
9,000 years ago in Bhimbetka, Madhya Pradesh. The earliest traces of the
Neolithic culture, according to radiocarbon analysis, date back to the
middle of the 8th millennium BC. e., were found at the bottom of the
Gulf of Cambay in the state of Gujarat. Evidence of Neolithic culture,
which dates back to the 7th millennium BC, were also found at a site in
Mergarh in the present-day Pakistani province of Balochistan. Late
Neolithic archaeological cultures flourished in the Indus Valley between
6000 and 2000 BC. and in South India between 2800 and 1200 BC.
Historically, the region has hosted some of South Asia's oldest
settlements and major civilizations.
The oldest archaeological
site dating back to the ancient Paleolithic period is the Soan River
Valley in Pakistan. The first village settlements appeared in the
Neolithic era in Mergarh, and the first cities of the region were in the
Indus River Valley, the main ones being Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa.
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age began in the Indian subcontinent around
3300 BC. with the advent of the Indus Valley Civilization. A
characteristic feature of this period is the extensive development of
metallurgy, with the smelting of copper, bronze, lead and tin. The
heyday of the Indus civilization fell on the period from 2600 to 1900
BC. At this time, cities appeared on the Indian subcontinent and
monumental construction began. This ancient civilization was formed in
the valley of the Indus River, spreading to the valley of the
Ghaggar-Hakra River (identified by most scientists with the Vedic
Saraswati River), the interfluve of the Ganges and the Yamuna, Gujarat
and northern Afghanistan.
The distinctive features of the Indus
civilization are cities built of brick, a highly developed sewer system
and multi-storey buildings. The largest urban centers were Harappa and
Mohenjo-Daro, as well as Dholavira, Ganverivala, Lothal, Kalibanga and
Rakhigari. As a result of the drying up of the Saraswati River and the
change in the course of the Indus River, major geological and climatic
changes occurred, which led to the disappearance of forests and
desertification of the region. These factors caused the decline and
disappearance of the Indus civilization.
iron age
Vedic
civilization
Vedic culture is an Indo-Aryan culture associated with
the Vedas, Hindu scriptures written in Vedic Sanskrit. According to the
accepted opinion in science, the Vedic civilization existed in the
period from the middle of the 2nd to the middle of the 1st millennium
BC. e., which is disputed by some Indian historians and Western
scholars, who attribute the beginning of the Vedic period to the 4th
millennium BC and associate the Indus civilization with the Vedic. It
was during the Vedic period that the foundations of Indian culture and
religion were formed. The first 500 years of the Vedic period (1500-1000
BC) correspond to the Bronze Age of India, and the next 500 years
(1000-500 BC) to the Iron Age.
In the XIX century, the European
colonizers of India put forward the theory of "Aryan conquest",
according to which at the beginning of the II millennium BC. the
Indian subcontinent was subjected to a massive one-time invasion by the
nomadic tribes of the Aryans, who brought with them the Vedic culture.
However, subsequent archaeological finds and linguistic studies
disproved this hypothesis. Instead, scientists put forward various
hypotheses of "Indo-Aryan migrations". According to the defenders of
these theories, the Indo-Aryan tribes moved to the northwestern regions
of the Indian subcontinent at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC.
and assimilated with the indigenous population, passing them their
language and Vedic culture. A different view is held by supporters of
the Exodus from India theory, who argue that the Aryans were originally
the indigenous population of the Indian subcontinent and later settled
beyond its borders as a result of a series of migrations.
After
in the II millennium BC the Harappan urban civilization declined and was
replaced by a society largely composed of large shepherd clans.
Gradually, agriculture began to play an increasingly important role, and
caste division began to play an increasingly important role in the
organizational structure of society. By the X century BC the Iron Age
began in Northwest India. To this period, scientists attribute the
compilation of the Atharva Veda, the first ancient Indian text that
mentions iron. It is believed that during this late Vedic period there
was a transition from the previously prevailing system of shepherd
tribes to the establishment of many small principalities called
Mahajanapadas. It is this period that scientists date the monuments of
ancient Indian epic poetry - "Mahabharata" and "Ramayana".
Mahajanapada
Towards the end of the Vedic period, a number of
small kingdoms and city-states appeared on the Indian subcontinent, many
of which are mentioned in Vedic and early Buddhist literature dating
from the period after the 10th century BC.
At this time, many
city-states were called janapadas. Republics and tribes with a diffuse
political structure and little social stratification made up the
majority of the Janapada; they were called gana-sanghas. According to
the Brahmin theory, the society of the time of the Buddha, apparently,
did not have a caste system, being loosely structured. There did not
exist a full-fledged monarchy, most likely it was similar to an
oligarchy or some form of republic.
By the 5th century BC 16
kingdoms or "republics" were formed, known as the Mahajanapadas - Kashi,
Koshala, Anga, Magadha, Vriji, Malla, Chedi, Vatsa, Kuru, Panchala,
Matsya, Shurasena, Assaka, Avanti, Gandhara and Kamboji. They spread
across the Indo-Gangetic plain from modern Afghanistan to Maharashtra
and Bengal. At this time, the second major period of urbanization began
after the Indus civilization. In the rest of the subcontinent, there
seem to have been many other small state formations that are known from
references in the literature. In some of them, royal power was
inherited, while in others, subjects themselves chose their rulers. The
main language of the educated people at that time was Sanskrit, and the
common people of North India communicated in various local dialects, the
so-called Prakrit. By the 5th century BC, that is, by the time of the
birth of the Buddha, many of the 16 kingdoms united and formed four
larger states. They were Vatsa, Avanti, Koshala and Magadha.
The
main religious practices of that time were the complex Vedic rituals
performed by the Brahmins. It is generally accepted that it was during
this period from the 7th to the 5th century BC. Upanishads were written
down - late Vedic religious and philosophical texts. The Upanishads had
an enormous influence on the formation of Indian philosophy, and,
appearing at about the same time as Buddhism and Jainism, marked the
golden age of thought of this period. In 537 B.C. Siddhartha Gautama
achieved "enlightenment", and became known as the Buddha - "awakened".
At about the same time, Mahavira (the 24th Tirthankara of the Jains)
preached a teaching close to Buddhism, which later became Jainism.
Asceticism was emphasized in the doctrines of Buddhism and Jainism and
they were distributed in the Prakrit language, which allowed these
creeds to acquire a large number of adherents among the masses. They
have had a huge impact on the practices of Indian religious traditions
associated with vegetarianism, the prohibition against killing animals,
and ahimsa.
While the geographical influence of Jainism was
limited to India, Buddhist monks spread the teachings of the Buddha to
Tibet, Sri Lanka, Central, East and Southeast Asia.
Persian and
Greek invasions
Around 520 BC, during the reign of the Persian king
Darius I, the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent (modern
eastern Afghanistan and Pakistan) was conquered by the Persian
Achaemenid Empire, remaining subject to it for the next two centuries.
In 334 BC Alexander the Great, having conquered Asia Minor and the
Achaemenid Empire, reached the northwestern borders of the Indian
subcontinent. There he defeated King Por at the Battle of the Hydaspes
and conquered most of the Punjab. Nevertheless, Alexander's troops
refused to proceed across the Beas River to the place where the city of
Jalandhar is currently located. Leaving many Macedonian veteran soldiers
in the conquered regions, Alexander withdrew with his army to the
southwest.
Empire of Magadha
Among the sixteen Mahajanapadas,
the most significant was the empire of Magadha, which, throughout its
history, was ruled by various dynasties. It was founded by the Haryanka
dynasty in 684 BC Its capital was the city of Rajagriha, later called
Pataliputra. Then the Shishunaga dynasty came to power, which in 424 BC
replaced by the Nanda dynasty.
Mauryan dynasty
In 321 BC.
Chandragupta Maurya, in cooperation with Chanakya, founded the Mauryan
dynasty by defeating the king of the Nanda dynasty, Dhanu Nanda. During
Mauryan rule, most of the Indian subcontinent united into one state. The
Mauryan Empire under the rule of Chandragupta not only conquered almost
the entire Hindustan peninsula, but also expanded its borders to Persia
and Central Asia. Chandragupta also made a significant contribution to
the spread of Jainism in South India.
Chandragupta was succeeded
on the throne by his son Bindusara, under whom there was a further
expansion of the empire's borders due to the conquest of the kingdom of
Kalinga in the east and other kingdoms in the extreme south of the
Hindustan peninsula.
Violence, converted to Buddhism and became an adherent of the
principle of ahimsa. The edicts of Ashoka are the oldest surviving
Indian documents, thanks to which a more or less exact dating of
subsequent dynasties and rulers became possible. Under the reign of
Ashoka, Buddhism spread throughout East and Southeast Asia. Ashoka's
grandson Samprati converted to Jainism and played a significant role in
spreading this creed.
Subsequent dynasties
In 185 BC. The
Shunga dynasty (empire) was founded. This happened after the last of the
Mauryan rulers, King Brihadratha, was killed by Pushyamitra Shunga, the
commander-in-chief of the Mauryan army. The Shunga dynasty was succeeded
by the Kanwa dynasty, which ruled East India from 71 to 26 BC. It was
replaced by the Satavahana dynasty and the kingdom of Andhra arose on
the site of the Magadha empire.
Northwestern mixed cultures
The northwestern mixed cultures of the Indian subcontinent include
Indo-Greek, Indo-Scythian, Indo-Parthian, and Indo-Sasanian.
The
Indo-Greek kingdom was founded by the Greco-Bactrian king Demetrius in
180 BC and was located on the territory of modern Afghanistan and
Pakistan. It existed for almost two centuries, during which it was ruled
by more than 30 Greek kings, who often came into conflict with each
other. The Indo-Scythians were one of the branches of the Indo-European
Saks (Scythians) who migrated from southern Siberia, first to Bactria,
and then to Sogdiana, Kashmir, Arachosia, Gandhara, and finally to
India; their kingdom lasted from the middle of the 2nd to the 1st
century BC. Later, the Indo-Parthian kingdom took over most of
present-day Afghanistan and northern Pakistan, defeating many Kushan
rulers such as Kujula Kadphis. The Persian Sasanian Empire, which
existed at the same time as the Gupta Empire, expanded to the territory
of modern Pakistan, where the Indo-Sasanian culture was born as a result
of the mixing of Indian and Persian cultures.
Early Middle
Kingdoms - golden age
The middle period was marked by a noticeable
development of culture. Starting from 230 BC South India was ruled by
the Satavahan dynasty, also known as the Andhras. The sixth king of the
dynasty, named Shatakarni, defeated the North Indian Shunga dynasty.
Another famous king of the dynasty was Gautamiputra Shatakarni.
In the Himalayas, in the period from the II century BC to the 3rd
century AD there was a kingdom of Kuninda. In the middle of the 1st
century A.D. from Central Asia, the Kushan dynasty invaded northwestern
India, laying the foundation for an empire that later stretched from
Peshawar to the Bay of Bengal. It also included ancient Bactria (in the
north of modern Afghanistan) and southern Tajikistan. The kingdom of the
Western Kshatrapas (35-405 AD), located in the western and central part
of India, was ruled by the rulers of the Sakas, who replaced the
Indo-Scythians. They were contemporaries of the Kushan dynasty, which
ruled the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, and the Satavahan
(Andhra) dynasty, which ruled over central India.
At various
times, the southern part of the Hindustan Peninsula was under the rule
of such kingdoms and empires as the Pandya, Early Cholas, Chera,
Kadamba, Western Ganga, Pallava and Chalukya. Some of the southern
kingdoms were transformed into overseas empires that spread throughout
Southeast Asia. In the struggle for dominance in the south of the Indian
subcontinent, these kingdoms periodically fought both with each other
and with the Deccan states. The Buddhist kingdom of Kalabhara
interrupted for some time the dominance of the Chola, Chera and Pandya
empires in the southern part of the Hindustan peninsula.
Roman
trade with India
Rome's trade with India supposedly began in the 1st
century AD during the reign of Emperor Octavian Augustus after his
conquest of Ptolemaic Egypt. From that time on, the Roman Empire was
India's most important trading partner in the West.
Trade, begun
by Eudoxus of Cyzicus in 130 BC, developed rapidly, and according to
Strabo (II.5.12), during the reign of Octavian Augustus, up to 120 ships
annually made trading voyages from the Egyptian port city of Myos Hormos
to India. In this trade, the Romans spent a huge amount of gold, which
was used in the Kushan Empire for minting coins. The outflow of gold
coins to India is evidenced by Pliny the Elder in his work "Natural
History":
According to the most conservative estimates, about one
hundred million sesterces are shipped annually from our empire to India,
China and the Arabian Peninsula: it is this amount that our luxury and
our women cost us. For what percentage of all this import is intended
for sacrifices to the gods and spirits of the dead?
Trade routes
and ports of Indo-Roman trade are described in detail in a Greek sailing
charter of the 1st century AD. "Periplus of the Erythrean Sea".
Gupta dynasty
In the 4th-5th centuries, the Gupta dynasty united
most of northern India into one empire. During this period, known as the
Golden Age of India, Hindu culture, science and political system reached
new heights in their development. Chandragupta I, Samudragupta, and
Chandragupta II were the most prominent rulers of the dynasty. According
to Western scholars, it was during this period that the sacred texts of
Hinduism Purana, which are the Vedic scriptures smriti, were written
down. The empire ceased to exist after the invasion of the Huns from
Central Asia. After the collapse of the Gupta empire in the 6th century,
the territory of India was again fragmented into a number of small
regional kingdoms. A small branch of the Gupta dynasty continued to rule
Magadha until the first half of the 7th century, when King
Harshavardhana finally ended the Gupta dynasty and founded his empire.
The White Huns, who may have been part of the Hephthalites, had
settled in Afghanistan with Bamiyan as their capital by the beginning of
the 5th century. It was they who caused the fall of the Gupta dynasty,
after which the Golden Age in North India came to an end. However, these
historical changes did not affect most of the Deccan and South India.
Late Middle Kingdoms - Classical period
The classical period in
Indian history began in the 7th century with the rebirth of North India
under King Harsha, and ended with the fall of the Vijayanagar Empire in
the south after the Muslim invasion in the 14th century. During this
period, Indian art flourished and the main religious and philosophical
systems developed, which served as the basis for various trends of
modern Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.
In the 7th century, King
Harsha successfully united northern India into one state, which,
however, fell apart shortly after his death. Between the 7th and 9th
centuries, three dynasties competed for control of North India: the
Pratiharas, the Pala dynasty of Bengal, and the decanal Rashtrakutas.
Later, the Sena dynasty took over the Pala kingdom, and the Pratihara
empire broke up into small kingdoms. These were the first of the
so-called Rajputs, principalities that existed in one form or another
for almost a millennium until India's independence from Great Britain in
1947. The first known Rajput principalities appeared in the 6th century
in Rajasthan, after which small Rajput dynasties ruled much of northern
India. Prithviraj Chauhan, one of the Rajputs of the Chauhan dynasty,
became famous because of the bloody conflicts with the advancing Islamic
sultanates. In the period from the middle of the 7th to the beginning of
the 11th century, the Shahi dynasty ruled on the territory of part of
modern Afghanistan, northern Pakistan and Kashmir. After the death of
King Harsha, a single all-Indian state ceased to exist in the north, and
attempts to create it took place already in the south.
The
Chalukya Empire ruled part of southern and central India from 550 to 750
with its capital at Badami, and later from 970 to 1190 from Kalyani in
present-day Karnataka. Around the same time, the Pallava dynasty of
Kanchi ruled in the south. With the decline of the Chalukya Empire in
the 12th century, its vassals, the Hoysalas of Halebidu, the Kakatiyas
of Warangal, the Yadavas of Devagiri, and the southern branch of the
Kalachuri, divided the vast Chalukya empire among themselves. Later, the
Chola kingdom appeared in northern Tamil Nadu, and the Chera kingdom in
Kerala. By 1343, all these kingdoms ceased to exist and the Vijayanagar
empire was formed on their territory.
South Indian kingdoms
extended their influence as far as Indonesia, taking control of vast
overseas territories in Southeast Asia. South Indian port cities were
actively involved in trade with Europe in the west and Southeast Asia in
the east. In the classical period, literature in local languages and
architecture reached their peak. This continued until the beginning of
the 14th century, when the South Indian kingdoms were attacked by the
Delhi Sultanate, which by that time had firmly established itself in the
north of the Indian subcontinent with its capital in the city of Delhi.
The Vijayanagara empire eventually ceased to exist under his onslaught.
Arrival of Islam in India
After the Muslims conquered India's
ancient western neighbor, Persia, their main focus in the region became
India, at that time the richest classical civilization, with a thriving
international trade and the only diamond mines known at that time in the
world. After several centuries of resistance from various North Indian
kingdoms, a number of Islamic empires (sultanates) arose in the north of
the Indian subcontinent and lasted for several centuries.
Even before the beginning of the Islamic invasion, many Muslim
trading communities appeared on the south Indian coast, mainly in
Kerala, where small groups of Muslims arrived mainly from the Arabian
Peninsula along the trade routes in the Indian Ocean. They brought with
them Islam, an Abrahamic religion that came into contact with the
Dharmic Hindu culture of the region. Later, the Deccan Sultanates and
the Bahmani Sultanate flourished in the west.
Delhi Sultanate
In the 12th-13th centuries, the Arabs, Turks and Afghans invaded North
India and at the beginning of the 13th century founded the Delhi
Sultanate. The Delhi Ghulam dynasty conquered a significant part of
northern India, it was replaced by the Khalji dynasty. During the time
of the sultanates, there was a cultural renaissance in India. The
resulting Indo-Muslim culture left behind syncretic monuments in
architecture, music, literature, religion and clothing. As a result of
communication between local speakers of Prakrit and Persian, Turkic and
Arab newcomers, the Hindu language, the predecessor of Urdu, appeared.
The Delhi Sultanate is the only Indo-Islamic empire to have
enthroned one of the few female rulers in Indian history, Razia Sultan
(1236-1240).
Having learned about the civil war in India, the
Turkic-Mongolian commander Timur in 1398 launched a military campaign
against the ruling Sultan Nasiruddin Mahmud, who belonged to the Delhi
Tughlakid dynasty. On December 17, 1398, the Sultan's army was defeated.
Timur entered Delhi, completely plundering and destroying the city.
Vijayanagar Empire
The Vijayanagara Empire or Vijayanagara is a
Hindu empire that occupied the entire south of India across the Krishna
River from 1336 until the middle of the 17th century. It arose during
the struggle of the Indians of South India with the Muslims of the Delhi
Sultanate. The state reached its peak of power under Devaraya II
(1422-1446), who made aggressive campaigns in Burma and Ceylon.
Mughal Empire
In 1526, Timur's descendant Babur, who belonged to the
Timurid dynasty, crossed the Khyber Pass and founded the Mughal Empire,
which lasted over 200 years[44]. By the beginning of the 17th century,
most of the Indian subcontinent was under the control of the Mughal
dynasty.
In 1739, Nadir Shah defeated the Mughal army in the huge
Battle of Karnal. After that, Nadir captured and plundered Delhi, taking
with him countless treasures, including the famous Peacock Throne.
During the era of the Mughal Empire, the dominant political power
was the Mughal emperor and his allies, and later successor states,
including the Maratha confederation, which fought against the weakened
Mughal dynasty.
Although the Mughals often resorted to harsh
measures to maintain control of their empire, they also pursued a policy
of integration with Hindu culture, which made their rule more successful
than that of the short-lived Delhi Sultanate. Akbar the Great was the
most prominent representative of the Mughal rulers, who were
distinguished by their tolerance for other religions and cultures. In
particular, he introduced a ban on the killing of animals during the
religious holidays of Jainism and abolished discriminatory taxes for
non-Muslims. The Mughal emperors intermarried with the local nobility,
became allies of the local maharajas, and attempted to syncretize their
Turko-Persian culture with the ancient Indian culture, which, in
particular, led to the emergence of Indo-Sarasen architecture.
Aurangzeb, who ascended the throne after Akbar, unlike previous
emperors, pursued an unpopular, discriminatory policy against the
non-Muslim population, which caused great discontent among the Hindus.
From the beginning of the 18th century, the empire began to
gradually decline and after the Sepoy Rebellion of 1857 (also known as
the Indian Popular Rebellion of 1857) ceased to exist. During the Mughal
period, the subcontinent experienced tremendous social change - the
Hindus, who were the majority population, were ruled by Muslim Mughal
emperors, some of whom were liberal and patronized Hindu culture, while
others were extremely intolerant, destroying temples and taxing
non-Muslims with huge taxes. At its height, the Mughal Empire occupied
an area larger than the ancient Mauryan Empire. After the Mughal Empire
fell into decay, several small kingdoms formed in its place. It is
believed that the Mughal dynasty was the richest dynasty that ever
existed.
Regional kingdoms after the collapse of the Mughal Empire
After
the collapse of the Mughal Empire, the dominant position in central and
northern Hindustani India was occupied by the state of the Marathas.
This period of Indian history was characterized by the emergence of a
number of small, regional states and the ever-increasing activity of
European powers. The Maratha state was founded by Shivaji. In the XVIII
century, it turned into a huge empire under the control of the Peshwas.
By 1760, the empire covered most of the Indian subcontinent. Geographic
expansion came to an end with the defeat of the Marathas in 1761 by the
Afghan army under Ahmad Shah Abdali at the Third Battle of Panipat. The
last Peshwa, Baji Rao II, was defeated by British troops in the Third
Anglo-Maratha War.
In South India, even before the fall of the
Hindu Vijayanagara empire in 1400, the Mysore kingdom was founded by the
Wodeyar dynasty, which then replaced Vijayanagara. The reign of the
Wodeyars was interrupted by Hyder Ali and his son Tippu Sultan. Under
their rule, the kingdom of Mysore fought several times with the British
and with the combined forces of Great Britain and the Marathas. Also in
South India, Hyderabad was founded in 1591 by the Qutb Shahi dynasty of
Golconda. After a short period of Mughal rule, the Mughal governor Asaf
Jah seized power in Hyderabad in 1724. A hereditary line of Nizams ruled
Hyderabad until 1948. Both Mysore and Hyderabad became vassal kingdoms
of British India.
The state of the Sikhs arose on the site of
modern Punjab. It was one of the last regions of the Indian subcontinent
to submit to British colonial rule. The Sikh Empire fell after a series
of Anglo-Sikh wars.
In the XVIII century, the rulers of Gorkha
formed the state of Nepal, which throughout its history has managed to
maintain its national identity and territorial integrity.
colonial era
The discovery by the Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama
of a new sea route from Europe to India marked the beginning of direct
Indo-European trade[46]. The Portuguese established trading colonies in
Goa, Daman, Diu and Bombay. They were followed by the Dutch, Danes and
English, establishing a trading post in the port city of Surat on the
west coast in 1619. Then came the French. Internal conflicts between the
Indian kingdoms allowed European traders to gradually establish
political influence and acquire land. Although the European powers
managed to keep various Indian regions under their control throughout
the 18th century, they were later forced to cede almost all of these
territories to the British, with the exception of the French outposts of
Pondicherry and Chandernagore, the Dutch port city of Coromandel (until
1825), and the Portuguese colonies of Goa. , Daman and Diu.
British India
In 1617, the British East India Company received the
right to trade with India from the Mughal Emperor Jahangir. The
gradually increasing influence of the Company prompted the de jure
Mughal ruler Farrukh Siyar in 1717 to grant it permission for free
tax-free trade in Bengal. The Nawab of Bengal, Siraj-ud-Daula, who was
the de facto ruler of Bengal, opposed the attempts of the British to
take advantage of these privileges. This led to the Battle of Plassey in
1757, in which the "army" of the East India Company, led by Robert
Clive, defeated the military units of the Nawab. In the same year, Clive
was appointed by the Company as the "governor" of Bengal. After the
Battle of Buxar in 1764, the Company acquired the civil rights to govern
Bengal from the Mughal Padishah Shah Alam II, formalizing British rule,
which over the next century extended to all of India and ended Mughal
rule. The British East India Company monopolized trade in Bengal. The
British introduced a special land tax system called "permanent
settlement", which established a neo-feudal social order. By the early
1850s, the East India Company controlled most of the Indian
subcontinent, including present-day Pakistan and Bangladesh. The British
in their colonial policy followed the principle of "divide and rule",
taking advantage of the state fragmentation of India and conflicts both
between different principalities and between different social and
religious groups.
In 1857, dissatisfaction with the rule of the British East India
Company sparked the First War of Independence, also known as the Sepoy
Rebellion. After a year of hostilities, the uprising was crushed. The
actual leader of the uprising, the last Mughal padishah Bahadur Shah II,
was sent into exile in Burma, his children were beheaded, and the Mughal
dynasty ceased to exist. As a result, the British East India Company was
liquidated, and India came under the direct control of the British Crown
as a colony of the British Empire. Various territories were ruled either
directly or were subordinated as vassal principalities. The exploitation
of the Indian colonies was the most important source of the accumulation
of British capital and the industrial revolution in England.
India made a significant contribution to the cause of the Entente in the
First World War.
Indian National Liberation Movement
The first
step towards Indian independence and the establishment of Western-style
democracy was the appointment of Indian advisers in the administration
of the British Viceroy. Since 1920, leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi
launched a massive campaign against the British colonial government. In
November 1929, in order to split the national liberation movement, the
British Parliament granted India the rights of a dominion of the British
Empire. A revolutionary movement against British rule began throughout
the Indian subcontinent, which in 1947 led to the independence of the
subcontinent from the British Empire.
Independence and partition
of India
Along with the desire for independence, tensions also
developed over the years between the Hindu and Muslim populations. The
Muslims, always a minority, were afraid of being dominated by the Hindu
government and were wary of the idea of independence. They tended to
equally distrust Hindu rule and oppose the British colonial government.
In 1915, Mahatma Gandhi led the Indian national liberation movement and
called for unity on both sides. His leadership eventually led India to
independence.
The tremendous influence that Gandhi had on India
in its struggle for independence through a non-violent mass popular
movement made him one of the most remarkable leaders in world history.
The Indians called him mahatma, which means "great soul" in Sanskrit.
The territories of British India gained independence in 1947, after
which India was divided into the Indian Union and the Dominion of
Pakistan. Due to the division of Punjab and Bengal, bloody clashes broke
out between Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims, as a result of which more than
500,000 people died. The partition of India also led to one of the
largest population migrations in modern history of the world - about 12
million Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims settled across the territory of the
newly created states of India and Pakistan.
History of India
after independence
Being a multinational and multireligious state,
after gaining independence, India is experiencing strife and
confrontation on religious and social grounds in different parts of the
country. Nevertheless, India was able to maintain its status as a
secular state with a liberal democracy, except for a brief period from
1975 to 1977, when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared a state of
emergency with limited civil rights.
In the second half of the
20th century, India regularly had problems with neighboring states due
to disputes over borders. The dispute with China has not been resolved
so far, in 1962 it resulted in a short border war (the Sino-Indian
Border War). India fought Pakistan several times: in 1947, 1965, 1971
and 1999. The last local conflict between India and Pakistan took place
in 2019.
In 1974, India conducted underground nuclear tests, thus
becoming a new member of the "nuclear club". In 1998, India continued
testing with a series of five new explosions. The reforms that began in
India in 1991 turned the country's economy into one of the fastest
growing in the world by the beginning of the 21st century, which still
occupies a leading position in this area. In 1996, the government of
Atala Bihari Vajpayee came to power, continuing the reforms. After
parliamentary elections in the spring of 2004, the Indian National
Congress party, led by Sonia Gandhi, won. On May 22, 2004, Manmohan
Singh took over as prime minister.
In the 2014 elections, the
Bharatiya Janata Party, led by its leader Narendra Modi, achieved an
absolute majority in parliament: 283 out of 543 seats. Over the past 30
years, no party has been able to achieve such success. For a whole
month, 814 million Indians could vote using 2,000,000 electronic voting
machines. Turnout was 66%, the highest in Indian history. The population
chose from 8251 candidates, among whom were 668 women and 5
transsexuals. The ruling party, the Indian National Congress, won just
44 seats. She ruled India for almost the entire period of independence,
but this time she suffered a historic defeat.
India is located in South Asia and ranks seventh in the world in
terms of area (3,287,590 km², including land: 90.44%, water surface:
9.56%). It has land borders with Pakistan in the west, with China, Nepal
and Bhutan in the northeast, with Bangladesh and Myanmar in the east. In
addition, India has maritime borders with the Maldives in the southwest,
with Sri Lanka in the south and with Indonesia in the southeast. The
disputed territory of Ladakh shares a border with Afghanistan.
The river network of India is dense, but there are few large lakes in
the country.
India is a federal republic of 28 states and 8 union territories
(including the National Capital Territory of Delhi). All states and the
three union territories (National Capital Territory of Delhi, Jammu and
Kashmir, Pondicherry) have their own elected government. The remaining
five union territories are administered by an administrator appointed by
the central authority and are therefore under the direct control of the
President of India. In 1956, the Indian states were reorganized along
linguistic lines. Since then, the administrative structure has remained
virtually unchanged.
All states and union territories are divided
into administrative and governmental units called districts. There are
over 700 districts in India. The districts are in turn divided into
smaller administrative units of taluki.
Most of India is located within the Precambrian Hindustan Plate,
which forms the peninsula of the same name and the Indo-Gangetic Plain
adjacent to it from the north and is part of the Australian Plate.
India's defining geological processes began 75 million years ago,
when the Indian subcontinent, then part of the southern supercontinent
of Gondwana, began drifting northwest across the then-defunct Indian
Ocean, a process that lasted about 50 million years. The ensuing
collision of the subcontinent with the Eurasian plate and its subduction
under it led to the emergence of the Himalayas, the highest mountains of
the planet, which currently surround India from the north and northeast.
On the former seabed, immediately south of the emerging Himalayas, a
huge trough formed as a result of plate movement, which gradually filled
with alluvium and turned into the modern Indo-Gangetic plain. To the
west of this plain, separated from it by the Aravali mountain range,
lies the Thar Desert. The original Hindustan Plate has survived to this
day as the Hindustan Peninsula, the oldest and geologically most stable
part of India, extending north to the Satpura and Vindhya mountain
ranges in central India. These parallel mountain ranges run from the
coast of the Arabian Sea in Gujarat in the west to the coal-rich plateau
of Chhota Nagpur in Jharkhand in the east. The inner part of the
Hindustan Peninsula is occupied by the Deccan Plateau, broken by faults
into low and medium-altitude mountains with smoothed peaks and vast flat
or undulating plateaus, over which rise hills and mesas with steep
slopes. To the west and east, the Deccan plateau rises to form the
Western and Eastern Ghats, respectively. The slopes of the Ghats facing
the sea are steep, while those facing the Deccan are gentle, cut by
river valleys. The Deccan Plateau contains India's oldest mountain
formations, some more than 1 billion years old. The Dean is rich in
deposits of iron, copper, manganese, tungsten ores, bauxites, chromites,
mica, gold, diamonds, rare and precious stones, as well as coal, oil and
gas.
India is located north of the equator between 6°44' and
35°30' north latitude and 68°7' and 97°25' east longitude.
The
length of the coastline is 7517 km, of which 5423 km belong to
continental India, and 2094 km to the Andaman, Nicobar and Laccadive
Islands. The coast of continental India has the following character: 43%
- sandy beaches, 11% - rocky and rocky coast, 46% - watts or swampy
coast. Weakly dissected, low, sandy shores have almost no convenient
natural harbors, so large ports are located either at the mouths of
rivers (Kolkata) or artificially arranged (Chennai). The south of the
western coast of Hindustan is called the Malabar coast, the south of the
east coast is called the Coromandel coast.
On the territory of
India, the Himalayas stretch in an arc from the north to the northeast
of the country, being a natural border with China in three sections,
interrupted by Nepal and Bhutan, between which, in the state of Sikkim,
is the highest peak of India, Mount Kanchenjunga. Karakorum is located
in the far north of India in Ladakh, mostly in the part of Kashmir held
by Pakistan. In the northeastern appendix of India are the mid-altitude
Assamo-Burman Mountains and the Shillong Plateau.
The internal waters of India are represented by numerous rivers,
which, depending on the nature of their food, are divided into
"Himalayan", full-flowing throughout the year, with mixed snow-glacier
and rain food, and "Dean", mainly with rain, monsoon food, large
fluctuations in flow, flood from June to October. On all large rivers, a
sharp rise in the level is observed in summer, often accompanied by
floods. The Indus River, which gave the name to the country, after the
partition of British India, turned out to be the largest part in
Pakistan.
The largest rivers, originating in the Himalayas and
for the most part flowing through the territory of India, are the Ganges
and the Brahmaputra; both flow into the Bay of Bengal. The main
tributaries of the Ganges are the Yamuna and the Koshi. Their low banks
cause catastrophic floods every year. Other important rivers of
Hindustan are Godavari, Mahanadi, Kaveri and Krishna, also flowing into
the Bay of Bengal, and Narmada and Tapti, flowing into the Arabian Sea -
the steep bank of these rivers does not allow their waters to overflow.
Many of them are important as sources of irrigation. There are no
significant lakes in India.
The most remarkable coastal regions
of India are the Great Rann of Kutch in Western India and the
Sundarbans, the swampy lower reaches of the Ganges and Brahmaputra
deltas in India and Bangladesh. Two archipelagos are part of India: the
coral atolls of Lakshadweep to the west of the Malabar coast; and the
Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a chain of volcanic islands in the Andaman
Sea.
The climate of India is strongly influenced by the Himalayas and the
Thar desert, causing monsoons. The Himalayas serve as a barrier to the
cold Central Asian winds, thus making much of India warmer than
neighboring South China and Myanmar. The Thar Desert plays a key role in
attracting the humid southwesterly winds of the summer monsoon, which
provide most of India with rain between June and October. India is
dominated by four main climates: humid tropical, dry tropical,
subtropical monsoon and highland.
In most of India, there are
three seasons: hot and humid with the dominance of the southwest monsoon
(June - October); relatively cool and dry with a predominance of the
northeast trade wind (November - February); very hot and dry
transitional (March-May). During the wet season, more than 80% of the
annual precipitation falls. The windward slopes of the Western Ghats and
the Himalayas are the most humid (up to 6000 mm per year), and on the
slopes of the Shillong Plateau there is the rainiest place on Earth -
Cherrapunji (about 12,000 mm). The driest areas are the western part of
the Indo-Gangetic Plain (less than 100 mm in the Thar Desert, dry period
is 9-10 months) and the central part of Hindustan (300-500 mm, dry
period is 8-9 months). The amount of precipitation varies greatly from
year to year. On the plains, the average temperature in January
increases from north to south from +15 to +27 °C, in May - everywhere
+28…+35 °C, sometimes reaching +45…+48 °C. During the humid period in
most of the country, temperatures are +28 ° C. In the mountains at an
altitude of 1500 m in January -1 °C, in July - +23 °C, at an altitude of
3500 m, respectively -8 °C and +18 °C.
The main centers of
glaciation are concentrated in the Karakoram and on the southern slopes
of the Zaskar range in the Himalayas. The glaciers are fed by snowfalls
during the summer monsoons and snow drifts from the slopes. The average
height of the snow line decreases from 5300 m in the west to 4500 m in
the east. Due to global warming, glaciers are retreating.
India is located in the Indo-Malayan zoogeographical region and is
one of the most biodiverse countries in the world. India is home to 7.6%
of all mammal species, 12.6% of all birds, 6.2% of all reptiles, 4.4% of
all amphibians, 11.7% of all fish, and 6.0% of all flowering plants.
Many ecoregions, such as the Shola forests, the rainforests of the
southwestern Ghats, are characterized by unusually high levels of
endemism; in total, 33% of India's plant species are endemic. Over the
millennia of the economic development of India, the natural vegetation
cover in most of its territory has remained little, however, it is very
diverse: from the tropical rainforests of the Andaman Islands, the
Western Ghats, and Northeast India, to the coniferous forests of the
Himalayas. On the plains of the interior regions of Hindustan, secondary
savannahs of acacias, spurges, palms, banyan trees, sparse forests and
thorny shrubs of anthropogenic origin predominate. Monsoon forests of
teak, sandalwood, bamboos, terminalia, and dipterocarps have been
preserved in the mountains. In the northeast of the peninsula, deciduous
mixed forests with a predominance of lard grow, on the windward slopes
of the Western Ghats there are evergreen mixed forests.
The
seaside strip of the east coast is swampy in places. The natural
vegetation cover of the Indo-Gangetic plain has not been preserved, and
its landscapes change from deserts in the west to evergreen mixed
forests in the east. Altitudinal zonality is clearly manifested in the
Himalayas and the Karakorum. Terai rise up from the foot of the Western
Himalayas (up to 1200 m), higher are monsoon forests, mountain pine
forests with evergreen undergrowth, dark coniferous forests with
evergreen and deciduous species, and at an altitude of 3000 m mountain
meadows and steppes begin. In the east of the Himalayas, humid tropical
evergreen forests rise up to 1500 m, giving way higher to mountain
subtropical forests, dark coniferous forests and mountain meadows.
Among the main trees of India is neem, widely used in Ayurvedic
medicines. According to legend, under the sacred banyan tree (see Bodhi
Tree), the image of which was found on seals in Mohenjo-Daro, Gautama
Buddha attained enlightenment after many years of meditation in
Bodh-Gaya.
Many Indian species are descendants of a taxon that
originated on the Gondwana supercontinent, of which the Indian
subcontinent was once a part. The subsequent movement of the Hindustan
peninsula and its collision with Laurasia led to a massive mixing of
species. However, volcanic activity and climatic changes that occurred
20 million years ago caused the extinction of many endemic Indian
species. Shortly thereafter, mammals arrived in India from Asia through
two zoogeographic passages on both sides of the nascent Himalayas. As a
consequence, among Indian species, only 12.6% of mammals and 4.5% of
birds are endemic, compared to 45.8% of reptiles and 55.8% of
amphibians. The most notable endemics are the Nilgiri langur and the
brown Kerala toad in the Western Ghats. There are 172 species in India
that are on the World Conservation Union's endangered species list,
representing 2.9% of the total number of species on the list. These
include the Asiatic lion, the Bengal tiger, and the Bengal vulture,
which nearly died out by eating decaying cattle flesh, which was treated
with diclofenac.
The high population density of India and the
transformation of natural landscapes have led to the impoverishment of
the country's wildlife. Over the past decades, the expansion of human
economic activity has posed a threat to the wild world of the country.
In response, a number of national parks and reserves were created, the
first of which appeared in 1935. In 1972, the "Wildlife Protection Act"
and the "Tiger Project" were passed in India to conserve and protect its
habitat; in addition to this, in 1980 the “Forest Conservation Act” was
passed. There are currently over 500 national parks and reserves in
India, including 13 biosphere reserves, four of which are part of the
UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves; 25 wetlands have been
officially registered as sites of protection under the provisions of the
Ramsar Convention.
In terms of population (more than 1.4 billion people), India ranks
first in the world ahead of China in terms of population[96]. Almost 70%
of Indians live in rural areas, although in recent decades migration to
big cities has led to a sharp increase in the urban population. The
largest cities in India are Mumbai (formerly Bombay), Delhi, Kolkata
(formerly Calcutta), Chennai (formerly Madras), Bangalore, Hyderabad and
Ahmedabad[63]. In terms of cultural, linguistic and genetic diversity,
India ranks second in the world after the African continent. The average
literacy rate of the population of India is 64.8% (53.7% for women and
75.3% for men). The highest literacy rate is found in Kerala (91%) and
the lowest in Bihar (47%). The gender composition of the population is
characterized by the excess of the number of men over the number of
women. The male population is 51.5%, and the female population is 48.5%.
The national average ratio of male and female population: 944 women to
1000 men. The median age of the population of India is 24.9 years, and
the annual population growth is 1.38%; 22.01 children are born per 1000
people per year. According to the 2001 census, children under 14 years
of age accounted for 40.2% of the population, persons aged 15-59 years -
54.4%, 60 years and older - 5.4%. The natural population growth was
2.3%.
There are about 38 million Indians outside of India, the
largest communities in the US, UK, Australia, Germany, Japan and Canada.
There are also small communities of Indians in Russia, France, South
Korea, Argentina and China.
India is home to the Indo-Aryan language group of the Indo-European
language family (these languages are spoken by 74% of the population)
and the Dravidian language family (24% of the population). Other
languages spoken in India belong to the Austroasiatic and
Tibeto-Burmese language families. Hindi, the most spoken language in
India, is the official language of the Government of India. English,
widely used in business and administration, has the status of an
"auxiliary official language"; it also plays a large role in education,
especially in secondary and higher education.
The Constitution of
India defines 21 official languages that are spoken by a significant
part of the population or that have classical status. There are 1652
dialects in India.
More than 900 million Indians (80.5% of the population) practice Hinduism. Other religions with a significant following are Islam (13.4%), Christianity (2.3%), Sikhism (1.9%), Buddhism (0.8%) and Jainism (0.4%). Religions such as Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Baha'is and others are also represented in India. Among the aboriginal population, which is 8.1%, animism is common.
The Constitution of India was adopted by the Constituent Assembly at
the end of 1949, two years after India's independence, and came into
force on January 26, 1950. It is the largest constitution in the world.
In the preamble to the constitution, India is defined as a sovereign,
socialist, secular liberal democratic republic with a bicameral
parliament functioning on the Westminster parliamentary model. State
power is divided into three branches: legislative, executive and
judicial.
The head of state is the President of India, who is
elected by the electoral college for a term of 5 years by indirect
voting. The head of government is the prime minister, who holds the main
executive power. The prime minister is appointed by the president and is
usually the candidate supported by the political party or political
coalition that has the most seats in the lower house of parliament.
The legislature of India is a bicameral parliament, which consists
of an upper house called the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and a lower
house called the Lok Sabha (House of the People). The Rajya Sabha, which
has a permanent membership, consists of 250 members, whose mandate lasts
for 6 years. Every two years, a third of the composition of the Council
of States is changed (re-elected). The majority of MPs are elected by
indirect suffrage by the legislatures of the Indian states and
territories in proportion to their population. The 12 members of the
upper house are appointed by the president for special merit in the
arts, sciences, and social activities. 543 of the 545 deputies of the
Lok Sabha lower house are elected by direct popular vote for a term of 5
years. The remaining two members are appointed by the President from the
Anglo-Indian community in the event that the President considers that
the community is not properly represented in Parliament.
The
executive branch of government consists of the president, vice president
and the Council of Ministers (the cabinet is its executive committee),
headed by the prime minister. Each Minister must be a member of one of
the Houses of Parliament. In the Indian parliamentary system, the
executive branch is subordinate to the legislative branch: the prime
minister and the Council of Ministers are directly responsible to the
lower house of parliament.
India has a unitary three-tier
judiciary which consists of the Supreme Court headed by the Chief
Justice of India, the 21st High Court and a large number of petty
courts. The Supreme Court is the court of first instance in cases
relating to fundamental human rights, in disputes between the states and
the central government, and has appellate jurisdiction over the higher
courts. The Supreme Court is legally independent and has the power to
promulgate laws or strike down state and territory laws if they are
contrary to the Constitution. One of the most important functions of the
Supreme Court is the ultimate interpretation of the Constitution.
India, at the federal level, is the country with the largest
population. For most of its history as a sovereign democratic state, the
federal government was led by the Indian National Congress. Various
national parties dominated at the state level, such as the Indian
National Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party (Indian People's Party,
BJP), the Communist Party of India (Marxist), as well as various
regional parties. From 1950 to 1990, except for two short periods, the
Indian National Congress had a parliamentary majority. The Indian
National Congress was not in power between 1977 and 1980, when the
Janata Party won the elections due to popular discontent over the
imposition of a state of emergency by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
In 1989, the National Front coalition, in alliance with the Left Front
coalition, won the elections, but was able to stay in power for only two
years.
Between 1996 and 1998, a series of short-lived coalitions
led the federal government. The conservative Bharatiya Janata Party
formed a government for a short time in 1996, followed by a United Front
coalition.
In 1998, the Bharatiya Janata Party formed the
National Democratic Alliance (NDA) with a number of regional parties and
became the second party in history, after the Indian National Congress,
to remain in power for an entire five-year period.
In the 2004
elections, the Indian National Congress won a majority in the Lok Sabha
and created a government together with the United Progressive Alliance
(UPA) coalition, supported by a number of left-wing parties and MPs who
were in opposition to the Bharatiya Janata Party.
In the 2014
parliamentary elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party led the National
Democratic Alliance (NDA), which won. The leader of the party, Narendra
Modi, was elected Prime Minister of India.
Since its independence in 1947, India has maintained friendly
relations with most countries. In the 1950s, India played an important
role on the international stage, advocating the independence of European
colonies in Africa and Asia. The Indian Army conducted two brief
peacekeeping missions in neighboring countries - in Sri Lanka
(1987-1990) and Operation Cactus in the Maldives. India is a member of
the Commonwealth of Nations and a founding member of the Non-Aligned
Movement. After the Sino-Indian Frontier War and the Second
Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, India noticeably moved closer to the Soviet
Union at the cost of severing ties with the US and continued this policy
until the end of the Cold War. India has been involved in three military
conflicts with Pakistan, mainly over the disputed territory of Kashmir.
Other clashes between the two countries took place in 1984 over the
Siachen Glacier and the 1999 Kargil War.
In recent years, India
has continued to play a prominent role in the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation and
the World Trade Organization. India is a founding member of the United
Nations and an active participant in its peacekeeping missions, with
more than 55,000 Indian soldiers taking part in thirty-five peacekeeping
operations on four continents. Despite criticism and military sanctions,
India has consistently refused to sign the Comprehensive
Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty,
preferring instead to maintain full control over its nuclear programs.
Recently, in the foreign policy arena, the Indian government has
directed efforts to improve relations with the United States, China and
Pakistan. In the economic sphere, India has close relationships with
other developing countries in South America, Asia, and Africa.
Relations with Russia
In the 15th century, the Tver merchant Afanasy
Nikitin visited India, describing his journey in the famous book Journey
Beyond the Three Seas.
At the state level, interest in India
arose in Russia at the very beginning of the 19th century and was far
from peaceful: Emperor Paul I, leaving the Second Anti-French Coalition,
ordered the military ataman of the Don Cossack army Vasily Orlov to go
at the head of the Cossacks on a military campaign through Central Asia
to India . In this way, Paul hoped to strike at the positions of the
British in India and help these opponents of the French, with whom he
took a course of political rapprochement. It is unlikely that the
Cossacks would have been able to achieve their goals, given that they
were sent without proper preparation to extremely little-known lands,
they had to pass through independent Khiva and Bukhara. But in March
1801, Pavel was killed, and the new emperor Alexander I returned the
Cossacks halfway.
Before the independence of India, Russia could
not have direct diplomatic relations with India. When India finally
gained independence, the Soviet Union soon began to actively cooperate
with it: many Soviet specialists were sent to India, primarily to help
create a powerful industrial base. In the 1990s, Russia noticeably moved
away from what was happening in South Asia, but in recent years
cooperation has been rapidly resuming.
To date, strong ties are
maintained between India and Russia in the field of economy and foreign
trade, in science and technology, culture, defense, space and nuclear
energy. Between the two countries there is a certain unity of approaches
to both political and economic problems. Specific examples of successful
bilateral cooperation in the energy sector are Indian investment in the
Sakhalin-1 oil project and Russian assistance in building a nuclear
power plant at Kudankulam in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu (as of
the end of April 2013, final preparations were underway to launch the
first power unit, the second the power unit was 90% ready for operation,
negotiations were underway on the construction of the third and fourth
power units). Another example is cooperation in the implementation of
the space program. The two countries jointly developed and now produce
BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles. Russia, together with India, is
developing a promising front-line aviation complex - a fifth-generation
fighter, the share of the Indian company Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) in
the development will be at least 25%. There are other examples of
successful Indian-Russian interaction.
As a political science
hypothesis, the possibility of a close strategic partnership between
Russia, India and China - the triangle "Moscow - Delhi - Beijing" is
often discussed. Many agree that such cooperation would contribute to
the creation of a multipolar world. However, plans to create such a
“triangle” (led by the United States) also exist in the United States
Department of State, where India is seen as a potential counterbalance
to the ever-increasing role of China in the modern world.
India's military is the third largest in the world and consists of
the army, navy and air force. The auxiliaries include the Indian
Paramilitary Units, the Indian Coastal Defense and the Strategic
Military Command. The President of India is the supreme commander of the
armed forces. In 2007, the country's military budget amounted to 19.8
billion US dollars, which is 2.4% of GDP. India is the world's main
importer of weapons, while 3/4 of all imported weapons India receives
from Russia.
In 1974, India became a member of the Nuclear Club,
carrying out the first nuclear test, codenamed Operation Smiling Buddha.
Subsequent underground nuclear weapons testing in 1998 led to
international military sanctions against India, which were gradually
suspended after September 2001. India adheres to the no-first-use rule
in its nuclear policy. On October 10, 2008, the Indo-American Nuclear
Cooperation Treaty was signed between India and the United States, which
finally ended the country's isolation in the field of nuclear energy.
The Indian intelligence services include the Joint Intelligence
Committee (JIC), the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), the Intelligence
Bureau (IB), and the intelligence units of the Ministry of Defense,
Central Bureau of Investigation of the Ministry of State and Home
Affairs and a division of the Department of Homeland Security. Since
India's main geopolitical adversary is Pakistan, working against
Pakistan and its intelligence agencies is the top priority of India's
intelligence agencies.
For much of its post-independence history, India has pursued a
socialist economic policy with government involvement in the private
sector, strict controls on foreign trade and investment. Since 1991, the
country has begun liberal economic reforms, opening up its market and
reducing government control over the economy. International reserves
increased from $5.8 billion in March 1991 to $304.2 billion at the end
of the 2013/14 financial year. However, at the same time, the share of
gold in them dropped sharply - to 7%.
The budget deficit, both
federal and individual states, has also been noticeably reduced. The
government and parliament are discussing measures to privatize
state-owned companies and open certain sectors of the economy to private
and foreign participation. An indicator of the strengthening of the
private sector in the 1990-2000s is the decrease in the share of public
debt in total external debt: this figure was 59.9% in the 1990/91
financial year, 44.1% in 2000/01, and only 25.6% in 2010/11. The nominal
GDP was $2.382 trillion in 2015, making India the seventh largest
economy in the world. Measured at purchasing power parity, India had the
world's third-largest GDP in 2018 at $10.5 trillion. According to the
IMF, the nominal income per capita in 2018 was about 2 thousand US
dollars (145th place in the world in this indicator), and according to
purchasing power parity - from 7 to 8 thousand dollars according to
various estimates (121st place in the world according to the IMF).
From 1992 to 2015, the average annual GDP growth was 6.8%, making
the Indian economy one of the fastest growing in the world. The labor
force in India in 2017 was 521.9 million people (second place in the
world after China): 47% of employees work in agriculture; 31% - in the
field of services; and 22% in industry. The main crops are rice, wheat,
cotton, jute, tea, sugar cane and potatoes. The agricultural sector
accounted for 15.4% of GDP in 2017; the service sector and industry
account for 61.5% and 23% respectively. Main Industries: Automotive,
Chemical, Cement, Consumer Electronics, Mechanical Engineering, Mining,
Petroleum, Pharmaceutical, Metalworking, Food and Textile. Along with
the rapid economic growth, the need for energy resources has increased
dramatically. According to statistics, in 2008 India ranked sixth in the
world in oil consumption and third in hard coal consumption.
Over
the past two decades, the Indian economy has experienced steady growth,
but when comparing different social groups, geographical regions, rural
and urban areas, economic growth has not been uniform. Income inequality
in India is relatively small (Gini coefficient: 33.6 in 2011), although
it has been growing in recent years. In India, there is a rather large
stratification of the population, according to 2009 data, 10% of the
population had 28.8% of the national income. Despite notable economic
progress, a quarter of the country's population lives below the
government-mandated living wage of $0.40 a day. According to statistics,
in 2011, 19% of the population was below the $2 a day poverty line.
Recently, India, thanks to the presence of a large number of
English-speaking professionals, has become an outsourcing destination
for many multinational corporations and a popular destination for
"medical tourism". India has also become a significant exporter of
software, as well as financial and technology services. India's main
natural resources are arable land, bauxite, chromite, coal, diamonds,
iron ore, limestone, manganese, micas, natural gas, oil and titanium
ores.
In the 2010/11 financial year, exports amounted to 250.5
billion US dollars, and imports - about 380.9 billion. The main exports
(2009/10 financial year) are machinery and equipment (21.4%),
handicrafts (16 8%), chemical products (12.8%), food and agricultural
raw materials (10.0%), ready-made clothing and textiles (8.1%). Main
buyers (2009/10 financial year): EU (20.2%), USA (10.9%). India also
ranks first in the world in mica exports (the main buyers are China,
Japan, and the USA). The main imports are oil, machinery, fertilizers
and chemicals. India's main trading partners are the United States, the
European Union and China.
India's external debt problem escalated in the late 1980s, when it reached $83.8 billion (29% of GDP in fiscal year 1990/91), while in fiscal year 1980/81 it was $23.5 billion (less than $12 billion). % of GDP). At the same time, the share of public debt in total external debt amounted to 59.9% (1990/91 financial year). By fiscal year 2001/02, the situation had improved, with public debt reduced to $43.6 billion and almost unchanged over the next five years ($46.3 billion in fiscal year 2005/06). However, then the national debt began to rise sharply and in the 2010/11 financial year amounted to 78.2 billion dollars. Total external debt increased even faster, from $92.9 billion in fiscal year 2005/06 to $227.7 billion in fiscal year 2010/11.
In India, all types of transport are represented: water (sea and
river), road, air, rail, pipeline.
Rail transport in India
provides mass transportation of goods and people. The length of the
railway network (2009) is more than 63 thousand km, including 18
thousand km electrified. Up to 6 billion passengers and 350 million tons
of cargo are transported annually. The main railway operator in the
country, which controls 99% of traffic, is Indian Railways. In 1951, the
country's railways were nationalized.
In 1950, India had 382,000
km of dirt roads and 136,000 km of highways. Of these roads, only 22
thousand km were suitable for heavy traffic of freight and passenger
vehicles.
In India, the lower reaches of the rivers Ganges,
Krishna, Godavari, Kaveri are navigable. These rivers are used for the
transportation of goods, back in the 1950s, 3/4 of the goods were
transported along the rivers on sailing ships.
In 1951, India's
fleet of ocean-going vessels consisted of only 86 steamships with a
tonnage of 338,000 tons.
In 1950, there were 64 civilian airports
operating in India. There are currently 454 airports in India.
Dynamics of gold and foreign exchange reserves
In the early years of
independence, India's foreign exchange reserves fell sharply from $2.161
billion in the 1950/51 financial year to $0.637 billion in the financial
year 1960/61 and then remained at a low level for a long time ($0.975
billion in the financial year 1970/71). The 1970s were relatively
favorable for the country, which led to a sharp increase in foreign
exchange reserves, which in the 1980/81 financial year amounted to 6.823
billion dollars. In the 1980s, the growth of reserves stopped: they
totaled $5.834 billion in the 1990/91 financial year. After
liberalization in the 1990s, gold and foreign exchange reserves
increased by more than 7 times - to $42.281 billion in the 2000/2001
financial year. The 2000s were marked by a new leap in growth and again
more than 7 times - up to 304.818 billion dollars in the 2010/2011
financial year. The share of gold in reserves in the 1990s decreased
from 51% (FY 1990/91) to 6% (FY 2000/2001). In the 2000s, the share of
gold increased to 8% (fiscal year 2010/2011).
Mica mining
India leads the world in the production of sheet muscovite, with the
main production occurring in the state of Andhra Pradesh, where the mica
belt is located 25 km wide and 100 km long. Illegal mining in closed
mines is very developed, sometimes with the use of child labor. In
2012-2013, 1,255 tons of natural mica were officially mined at 32
deposits. Official Indian mica mining flourished in the 1960s (7,000
tons in 1961), but then declined (1,550 tons in 1988), then production
levels stabilized and fluctuated wildly from about 1,100 tons to 4,500
tons in the 2000s. in year.
Foreign trade of independent India is characterized by a constant
predominance of imports over exports. In the first decades of
independence, foreign trade increased, but very slowly: $2.5 billion in
the 1950/51 financial year, $4.2 billion in the 1970/71 financial year.
This was followed by a jump and in the 1980/81 financial year, the
volume of foreign trade amounted to 24.4 billion dollars, and in 1990/91
financial year 42.2 billion dollars. In the 1990s-2000s, the volume of
external trade increased sharply, amounting to $95.2 billion in the
2001/02 financial year and $631.4 billion in the 2010/11 financial year.
The structure of Indian imports has also changed: the share of cereals
has fallen to almost zero, from 16.1% of the value of imports in the
1960/61 financial year to 0.03% in the 2009/10 financial year. Indian
exports have also changed in recent decades, with the share of tea
falling to 0.4% in FY 2009/10 (in FY 1970/71 it accounted for 9.6% of
Indian exports) and jute and jute products falling from 21. 0% to 0.4%
in the 2009/10 financial year.
According to the CIA fact book, as
of 2017, exports amounted to $ 299.3 billion, the main export items were
chemicals (including drugs) and petroleum products, precious and
ornamental stones, machinery and equipment, iron ore, steel, tea ,
coffee and other agricultural products, textiles. Main buyers: USA -
15.6%, UAE - 10.2%, Hong Kong - 4.9%, China - 4.3%. The volume of
imports in 2017 amounted to 426.8 billion dollars, the main items are
crude oil, engineering products, fertilizers, plastics, and metals. Main
suppliers: China - 16.3%, USA - 5.5%, UAE - 5.2%, Saudi Arabia - 4.8%,
Switzerland - 4.7%
Indian investments abroad
In 2013, India
sent abroad $1.7 billion in direct investment (0.1% of global exports of
foreign direct investment). The total volume of accumulated foreign
direct investment of the country in 2013 amounted to 119.8 billion
dollars (0.5% of the global volume of accumulated foreign direct
investment). For a long time, the role of India in the world export of
investments remained negligible - in 2004, the volume of accumulated
foreign direct investment of this country amounted to $ 6.5 billion, or
0.07% of the world's total. Nevertheless, in 2004-2009 there was a jump
- the volume of accumulated direct investments of the country abroad
grew to 77.2 billion dollars, or 0.4% of the global volume, and the
annual export of direct investment jumped from 2.2 billion dollars to
16.0 billion dollars. Geographically, in FY 2011/12, Indian direct
investment was distributed as follows: Mauritius - 23%, Singapore - 19%,
Netherlands - 12%, USA - 9%, UK - 4%, UAE - 4%.
Poverty issues
Out of 5161 Indian cities, 4861 do not have sewer networks. Even in
Bangalore and Hyderabad, India's high-tech metropolises, more than half
of the population does not have access to sewerage. Only 50% of cities
have access to piped water. This means that water is only available from
one to six hours a day. Power outages are also quite common, and 300
million people have no access to electricity at all. The situation is
similar with public transport: only 20 out of 85 Indian cities with a
population of more than 0.5 million have municipal city buses.
The culture of India is very diverse and has a high level of
syncretism. Throughout its history, India has managed to preserve
ancient cultural traditions, at the same time adopt new customs and
ideas from conquerors and immigrants, and spread its cultural influence
to other regions of Asia.
In Indian society, traditional family
values are highly respected, although contemporary urban families
often favor a nuclear family structure, largely due to the
socio-economic constraints imposed by the traditional extended family
system.
On September 3, 1948, the government of the Republic of
India approved the Roerich Pact.
Architecture
Indian
architecture is one of the areas where the diversity of Indian culture
is most vividly represented. Much of India's architecture, including
such remarkable monuments as the Taj Mahal and other examples of Mughal
and South Indian architecture, is a mixture of ancient and heterogeneous
local traditions from different regions of India and abroad.
music and dancing
Indian music has a wide range of traditions and
regional styles. Indian classical music includes two main genres - North
Indian Hindustani, South Indian Carnatic traditions and their various
variations in the form of regional folk music. Local styles of popular
music include filmi and Indian folk music, one of the most influential
varieties of which is the syncretic Baul tradition.
Indian dances
also have a variety of folk and classical forms. The most famous Indian
folk dances are bhangra in Punjab, bihu in Assam, chhau in West Bengal,
Jharkhand and Orissa, and ghumar in Rajasthan. Eight dance forms, with
their narrative forms and mythological elements, have been given the
status of Indian classical dances by the Indian National Academy of
Music, Dance and Drama. These are: bharatanatyam of Tamil Nadu, kathak
in Uttar Pradesh, kathakali and mohini attam in Kerala, kuchipudi in
Andhra Pradesh, manipuri in Manipur, odissi in Orissa and sattriya in
Assam.
Theater and cinema
Indian theater often includes music,
dance and impromptu dialogue. The plots are often based on motifs
borrowed from Hindu texts, as well as medieval literary works, social
and political news. Some regional forms of Indian theater are: bhavai in
Gujarat, jatra in West Bengal, nautanki and ramlila in northern India,
tamasha in Maharashtra, terukuttu in Tamil Nadu, and yakshagana in
Karnataka.
The Indian film industry ranks first in the world in
terms of the number of films released per year. In 2009, about 2,500
films were made in India, of which 1,280 are feature films. Bollywood,
with its main production center in Mumbai, produces Hindi commercial
films and is the most prolific film industry in the world. Established
cinematic traditions also exist in other Indian languages such as
Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu.
The earliest works of Indian literature were transmitted orally for many centuries and only later were written down. These include Sanskrit literature - the Vedas, the epics "Mahabharata" and "Ramayana", the drama "Abhigyana-shakuntalam", the classical Sanskrit poetry of the Mahakavya and the Tamil literature of the Sangam. One of the modern writers who wrote both in Indian languages and in English is Rabindranath Tagore, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913.
Education in most universities in India is conducted in English.
Higher education in the country is provided at the level of programs of
European universities. The cost of the academic year is about 15,000 US
dollars. It does, however, vary depending on the source of funding,
public or private.
As of 2009, there were 504 universities in
India (in 1950 there were only 27). Over the past few decades, the
technical field of education has developed significantly. Currently, 185
universities offer postgraduate studies in engineering and technical
disciplines.
Indian cuisine is characterized by a wide variety of regional styles
and exquisite use of kitchen roots, herbs and spices. The staple food in
the regions is rice (especially in the south and east) and wheat
products (mainly in the north). The best-known condiment, which
originated in the Indian subcontinent and is now consumed throughout the
world, is black pepper; on the contrary, red capsicum, widely used
throughout India, was introduced to the Hindustan peninsula by the
Portuguese.
traditional clothing
Different regions of India
use different types of traditional Indian clothing. Its color and style
depends on various factors such as climate. Clothing made from unsewn
pieces of fabric is popular, such as saris for women and dhoti or lungi
for men; tailor-made garments such as punjabi (harem pants and kurta
pajamas) for women, and European-style trousers and shirts for men are
also popular.
Most Indian holidays are of religious origin, although some are celebrated by all Indians regardless of caste or religion. Some of the most popular holidays are Diwali, Ganesha Chaturthi, Ugadi, Pongal, Holi, Onam, Vijaya Dashami, Durga Puja, Eid al-Fitr, Eid ul-Fitr, Christmas, Vesak and Vaisakhi. There are three public holidays in India. Various states also observe between nine and twelve official local holidays. Religious holidays are an integral part of the daily life of Indians and are held openly and publicly with the participation of a huge number of people.
The national sport of India is field hockey and the most popular
sport is cricket. In some states, such as West Bengal, Goa and Kerala,
football is also widely played. Recently, tennis has gained considerable
popularity. Chess, historically originating from India, is also very
popular and the number of Indian grandmasters is constantly increasing.
Traditional sports throughout the country include kabaddi, kho kho, and
gilli danda. India is also the birthplace of yoga and ancient Indian
martial arts - Kalaripayattu and Varma-Kalai.
The Indian men's
team has won the most medals (11) in field hockey ever in the Olympic
Games, including 8 golds in 1928-1980.
One of the threats to India's national security is terrorism,
especially in Jammu and Kashmir, northeastern India, and by the
beginning of the 21st century, in such large cities as Delhi and Mumbai.
The most striking example is the terrorist attack on the Indian
Parliament in Delhi in 2001. In the fall of 2008, the country's largest
city, Mumbai, was attacked by terrorists, over 100 people were killed.
Despite the large number of terrorist attacks committed in India, most
of them do without civilian casualties: in 2001-2010, 13,001 terrorist
attacks were committed in the country, during which 3,986 civilians and
855 members of the security forces were killed.
The fight against
the Naxalites
A serious problem is the large-scale guerrilla war
waged for decades by the Naxalite communists (mostly of the Maoist
persuasion). They account for the lion's share of terrorist attacks in
India: in 2010, the Naxalites committed 2,212 terrorist attacks, in
which 1,003 people died. The Naxalite movement began in 1967 and today,
to varying degrees, they control large areas in the states of Andhra
Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Maharashtra and
Chhattisgarh (the so-called "Red Corridor") with a population of
approximately 200 million people. The main Naxalite organizations are:
Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) (since 1969), Maoist
Communist Center of India since the early 1970s, and People's War Group
since 1980. The Maoist communist center of India has essentially created
its own state with people's courts (they even pass death sentences), a
parallel government, taxes, its people also build hospitals, schools,
drill wells. Naxalites rely on the broad support of the poorest sections
of the population. A noteworthy fact: despite the fact that the
Naxalites are officially declared terrorists, only the police forces are
fighting them (not very successfully). The Indian Armed Forces do
everything possible to evade operations against the Naxalites, stating
that they did not take an oath to fight against their own people.
Nagaland
Nagaland, with its predominantly Christian population,
is a hotbed of ethnic terrorism. During 1992-2012, 3,432 people died in
the state during the fighting (mostly militants, the victims among law
enforcement officers and civilians are much less - 10 members of the
security forces were killed in 2003-2012).
Bodoland
In the late 1980s, a wave of terrorism began in the
territories inhabited by the Bodo tribes in the state of Assam. Since
2003, when it was decided to grant them autonomy, it has declined, but
the conflict continues to smolder.
Manipur
In 1980, armed
protests by the Meiteis (Manipurs) began in Manipur, who opposed the
rule of India and for the expulsion of the Mayangs (foreigners). In
2013, there were 225 terrorist attacks in Manipur. Basically, the
militants themselves die in the terrorist attacks, the victims among the
security services and the civilian population are isolated.
Tripura
The emergence of separatism in the former principality of
Tripura is associated with the influx of refugees from Bangladesh, as a
result of which the local hill tribes (Tripuri and others) found
themselves in a minority, which led to their consolidation and the
beginning of an ethnic conflict in 1979.
Although an agreement
was signed with the government and separatists in 1988, armed attacks
continued: in 2003-2012, 1,038 terrorist attacks were committed in the
state, and there are raids from neighboring Bangladesh. The main victims
of the attacks are the separatists themselves, the number of dead
civilians and members of the security forces is much smaller.
Jammu and Kashmir
In 2012, there were 1,025 terrorist attacks in
northwest India, although the casualties from them were relatively small
- 97 civilians and 14 members of the security forces were killed.