India
The world's most populous nation and largest democracy
India is a subcontinent unto itself, the most populous country on Earth and the world's largest democracy, a civilization of staggering diversity bound together as a single nation. Within its borders thrive hundreds of languages, every major religion, and landscapes ranging from Himalayan snow to tropical backwaters. The birthplace of Hinduism and Buddhism, home to the Taj Mahal and the software campuses of Bengaluru, India fuses ancient tradition with a fast-rising, tech-driven economy. It is a place of dizzying contrasts, where village and megacity, ritual and rocketry, coexist on an epic scale.
The land falls into three great zones, the Himalaya in the north, walling off the subcontinent and giving rise to the Ganges and other sacred rivers, the broad and fertile Indo-Gangetic plain that cradles much of the population, and the ancient Deccan Plateau of the peninsular south, flanked by the Western and Eastern Ghats. India's highest point is Kangchenjunga, at 8,586 meters the third-highest mountain on Earth, on the Nepal border. The monsoon governs the rhythm of life, bringing the rains that sustain agriculture, while the Thar Desert dries the northwest and coral coasts fringe the south.
Heir to the Indus Valley civilization and a succession of empires from the Mauryas and Guptas to the Mughals, India was unified under British colonial rule before winning independence in 1947 through a largely nonviolent movement led by Mahatma Gandhi, accompanied by the traumatic partition that created Pakistan. Since then it has held together as a vibrant, often turbulent democracy. Economic liberalization in 1991 unleashed rapid growth, and India is now a global hub for information technology, pharmaceuticals, and space exploration, while contending with deep inequality, religious tension, and the pressures of its immense and youthful population.