The Republic of India is the world's seventh largest country. In population, it ranks second only to China. India extends from high in the Himalays through the Tropic of Cancer to the warm waters of Indian Ocean.
Geographically India can be divided into three parts - the mountainous north, the great plains of the Brahmaputra and Ganges, and the plateaus and lowlands that occupy the southern area, including the Deccan and most of the peninsula. Each provides an astonishing range of scenery - a picture intensified by the variety of people, cultures and activities within them.
The first Indian empire broke up after the death of Emperor Ashoka in 232 BC, to be replaced by many others, both transient and lasting, during the centuries that followed. The Portuguese who crossed the Indian Ocean in the late 15th century, and the British, Danes, French and Dutch who soon followed them, found a subcontinent divided in itself and ripe for takeing.
As a result of battles fought both in Europe and in India itself, Britain gradually gained ascendancy over both European rivals and local factions within the subcontinent; by 1805 the British Indian Empire was gradually consolidated throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. Organized opposition to Britain's rule began before World War I and reached a climax after the end of World War II. On August 15th 1947 the Indian subcontinent became independent, but divided into the seprate states of India, a mainly Hindu community, and Pakistan, where Muslims formed the vast majority.
AREA 3,287,590 sq km [1,269,338 sq mls]
POPULATION 1,129.9 million (2007)
CAPITAL New Delhi
GOVERNMENT Multiparty fedral republic
NATIONAL DAYS 26th January; Republic Day (1950), 15th August; Indepence Day (1947).
ETHNIC GROUPS Indo-Aryan 72%, Dravidian 25%, other (Mongoloid) 3%.
LANGUAGES Hindi 30% and English (official languages), Telugu 8%, Bengali 8%, Marathi 8%, Gujrati 8%, Tamil 7%, Urdu 5% and others.
RELIGIONS Hinduism 83%, Islam (Sunni Muslim) 11%, Christianity 2%, Sikhisim 2%, Buddhism 1%, and others (includes Jainism and the Jewish religion).
CURRENCY 1 Rupee = 100 paise
SOURCE OF INCOME Agriculture 32%, industry 30%, services 38%.
MAIN PRIMARY PRODUCTS Wheat, sugar cane, rice, millet, sorghum, jute, barley, tea, cattle, coal, iron ore, lead, zinc, diamonds, oil and natural gas, bauxite, chromite, copper, manganese.
MAIN INDUSTRIES Textiles, chemicals, petroleum products, oil refining, jute, cemnet, fertilizers, food processing, diesel engines, beverages, iron and steel.
MAIN EXPORTS Gems and jewellery 17%, clothing 9%, leather and leather manufactures 6%, machinery and transport equipment 6%, cotton fabrics 5%, tea and maté 4%.
MAIN IMPORTS Non-electrical machinery 18%, mineral fules 13%, iron steel 7%, pearls, precious and semi-precious stones 7%, electrical machinery 4%, transport equipment 3%, edible vegetable oil 3%.
The Indian flag is a horizontal tricolour in equal proportion of deep saffron on the top, white in the middle and dark green at the bottom. The ratio of the width to the length of the flag is two is to three. In the centre of the white band, there is a wheel in navy blue to indicate the Dharma Chakra, the wheel of law in the Sarnath Lion Capital. This center symbol or the 'CHAKRA', is a Buddhist symbol dating back to 200th century BC.
Its diameter approximates the width of the white band and it has 24 spokes, which intends to show that there is life in movement and death in stagnation. The saffron stands for courage, sacrifice and the spirit of renunciation; the white, for purity and truth; the green for faith and fertility.
The words for the anthem were first published in 1912 - it was for some years prior to adoption associated with India's struggle for independence. The words were written by the great Bengali poeat Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941).
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