India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: भारत गणराज्य Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh largest country by geographical area, the second most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and theBay of Bengal on the east, India has a coastline of 7,517 kilometers (4,671 mi).[13] It bordersPakistan to the west;[14] China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north-east; and Bangladesh andBurma to the east. India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and Indonesia in theIndian Ocean.
Home to the Indus Valley Civilization and a region of historic trade routes and vast empires, the Indian subcontinent was identified with its commercial and cultural wealth for much of its long history.[15] Four major world religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhismoriginated there, while Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam arrived in the first millennium CE and shaped the region's diverse culture. Gradually annexed by the British East India Company from the early eighteenth century and colonised by the United Kingdom from the mid-nineteenth century, India became a modern nation state in 1947 after a struggle for independence that was marked by widespread nonviolent resistance.
India is a parliamentary republic consisting of 28 states and 7 union territories. It has theworld's twelfth largest economy at market exchange rates and the fourth largest in purchasing power. Economic reforms have transformed it into the second fastest growing large economy;[16] however, it still suffers from high levels of poverty,[17] illiteracy, and malnutrition. A pluralistic, multilingual, and multiethnic society, India is also home to a diversity of wildlifein a variety of protected habitats.
