India is a Country in South Asia, covering most of
the land of Indian subcontinent. India's
coastline stretches 7000 km, neighboring
Pakistan and Afghanistan from the north -
west, China, Nepal, and Bhutan from north,
Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east. Maldives
is the vicinity of Indian Ocean from the
south-west, Sri Lanka from the south, and
Indonesia from the south-east. India is
the second largest in the world in
terms of Population, a population of over one
billion people today to almost ( 1,045,845,226
billion as World Population statistics 2002
shows), which means that the population
density of India, is equal to % 18.0607
the world's population), As for as the
population density of Asia is concerned it is
equal to (28.11%).
It
also ranked seventh in the world in terms of
area, amounting to (3,287,590 million square
kilometres ). The size and space as compared
with the world amount (2.5515% of the world),
and (6,788% of the Asian continent.)
India is known to have some of the oldest
civilizations the world has seen and was the
center of many of important trade routes
throughout history. It has four major
religions of the world known as Hinduism,
Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism.
India has also been a colonial territory of
United Kingdom and became an independent
nation in 1947. In The last two decades India
got tremendous growth and prosperity in
economic fields and has been playing greater
role in region and the world.
The paintings at the Bhimbetka on rocks in
Madhya Pradesh shed shelter on the oldest
traces of human life in India. The first known
permanent settlements appeared over 9,000
years ago and gradually developed into the
Indus Valley Civilization. It is being said
that during the 2600 Bc to 1900 BC India was
at its peak time.
The
santhi satooba monuments in Madhya Pradesh
dated back to third century BC is indebted to
the Asoka dynasty. The longs and historical
minarate known as Qutub Minar in Delhi is
built by Qutbuddin Aibak. From 5the century BC
there were many dynasties ruled on Delhi
Paintings at the Ajanta Caves in Aurangabad,
Maharashtra, Sixth century.
In
the third century BCE, most of South Asia was
united into the Maurya Empire by
Chandragupta Maurya and flourished under
Ashoka the Great. From the third century CE,
the Gupta dynasty oversaw the period referred
to as ancient "India's Golden Age." Empires in
Southern India included those of the Chalukyas,
the Cholas and the Vijayanagara Empire.
Science, technology, engineering, art, logic,
language, literature, mathematics, astronomy,
religion and philosophy flourished under the
patronage of these kings.
Following invasions from Central Asia between
the 10th and 12th centuries, much of North
India came under the rule of the Delhi
Sultanate and later the Mughal Empire. Under
the rule of Akbar the Great, India enjoyed
much cultural and economic progress as well as
religious harmony. Mughal emperors gradually
expanded their empires to cover large parts of
the subcontinent. However, in North-Eastern
India, the dominant power was the Ahom
kingdom of Assam, among the few kingdoms to
have resisted Mughal subjugation. The first
major threat to Mughal imperial power came
from a Hindu Rajput king Maha Rana Pratap of
Mewar in the 14th century and later from a
Hindu state known as the Maratha confederacy,
that dominated much of India in the mid-18th
century. |