India: As The Second Most Populous Country After China
India, officially the Republic of India is a country in South Asia that occupies most of the Indian subcontinent.
The name of the country "India" is derived from the Old Persian version of the word "Sindhu", the name of the river Indus in Sanskrit (see the detailed article on the origin of the name of India). The official texts also use the word "Bharat" (Hindi word derived from the Sanskrit name of an ancient Hindu king, whose history can be found in the Ramayana). A third name, "Hindustan," or "Hindustan" listen, that is to say "land of Hindus" in Persian, is used since the time of the Mughal Empire and is the most widely used today by Most Indians in everyday language.
India is the second most populous country after China. Twenty-three official languages are recognized, the two official languages of the administration at Central is the Hindi and English.
The Indian coastline stretches over seven thousand kilometers. The country shares borders with Pakistan to the west, China, Nepal and Bhutan to the north and north-east, Bangladesh and Burma to the east. Indian Ocean, India is near the islands of the Maldives to the southwest, Sri Lanka and south of Indonesia on the southeast. India also claims a border with Afghanistan to the northwest.
India is home to one of the oldest civilizations and an important historical crossroads of major trade routes. Four major religions were born in this sub-continent: Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism.
For nearly two centuries, India was an important part of the British Empire before gaining its independence in 1947. At the same time, French and Portuguese counters are present on the territory of India, who will be reassigned a few years after independence. However, even during the colonial period, one third of the territory consisted of kingdoms and principalities vassals of the "British Raj" but autonomous.
After several decades during which economic development could hardly keep a very high population growth, the country has grown significantly over the past fifteen years, particularly through the beginning of the demographic transition and reforms launched in 1991. On 22 January 2007, a deserted Indian space capsule returns to earth after a 12-day mission in space, which posed a significant technical and scientific milestone for the country. Today India is one of the major emerging powers of China alongside Russia and Brazil. She is currently the fourth largest economy in purchasing power parity and the eleventh in nominal terms.
In the sixth century BC a wave of religious reform rises, Buddhism and Jainism flourished, adding to the richness of Indian culture in all areas. Classical Hinduism is developed from the Vedic culture. The first millennium sees many independent kingdoms grow strongly, gaining some imperial stature. The Hindu dynasty dominated the Gupta period that historians regard as a "golden age" of India and Maurya, especially the Buddhist emperor Ashoka, contribute to the cultural influence of India. Arts, mathematics, technology, astrology, religion and philosophy flourish thanks to royal patronage.
From the seventh century AD, small kingdoms multiply and compete until the long series of Muslim conquests began in the eighth century by the conquest of Sind, and continued in the twelfth century by Mohammed Ghori and his troops came Central Asia. Thus, over a period spanning nearly a millennium, most parts of India are gradually subject to Muslim rule, the sultanate of Delhi, and the Mughal empire. We think it was during this long period that whole groups of nomadic Indians, the ancestors of the Roma, fleeing unrest have left the country to move vest north-west through Iran, then the Turkey to Europe.
Nevertheless, some Hindu kingdoms, as the kingdom of Vijayanagar, remain and prosper. At the same time as the arrival in power of the Mughal dynasty started by Babur, a descendant of Tamerlane, who had defeated his main rival during the battle of Panipat in 1526, the kingdom of Vijayanagar in the reign of Krishna Deva Raya, s extends over much of southern India, which corresponds to the current states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and part of Maharashtra, and then experienced a flourishing economic and cultural significance.
During the reign of the Mughal emperors, particularly under the leadership of Akbar (1542-1605), major reforms are undertaken. In the political field, the beginnings of a modern state appears: the administration is organized in a decentralized system of provinces governed by princes appointed by the emperor and that the tax is lifted, and a judicial institution is on foot.
Akbar is still putting in place a policy of religious tolerance towards Hindus, which led inter alia to the development of a specific culture including Urdu, Persian and outcome of Hindustani is an outcome. In art and architecture, the Mughal emperors reveal themselves great patrons and promoters enlightened, and it was during this period that built what remains as the most beautiful architectural achievement of the period, the Taj Mahal .
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