India

The Republic of India is a country in South Asia which comprises most of the Indian subcontinent. India has a coastline which stretches over seven thousand kilometres, and shares its borders with Pakistan to the west, the People's Republic of China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast, and Bangladesh and Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) on the east. On the Indian Ocean, it is adjacent to the island nations of the Maldives on the southwest, Sri Lanka on the south, and Indonesia on the southeast. India also claims a border with Afghanistan to the northwest.

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India is the fourth largest economy in the world in terms of purchasing power parity. It is thesecond most populous country in the world, with a population of over one billion, and is the seventh largest country by geographical area. It is home to some of the most ancient civilisations, and a centre of important historic trade routes. Four major world religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism have originated from India. Formerly a major part of the British Empire as British India before gaining independence in 1947, during the past twenty years the country has grown significantly, especially in its economic and military spheres, regionally as well as globally.

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The official name of the country, India , is derived from the Old Persian version of Sindhu, the historic local appellation for the river Indus; see Origin of India's name. The Constitution of India and general usage also recognises Bharat ( ),which is derived from the Sanskrit name of an ancient Hindu king, whose story is to be found in the Mahabharata, as an official name of equal status. A third name, Hindustan ( , ) , or land of the Hindus in Persian, has been used since Mughal times, though its contemporary use is unevenly applied due to domestic disputes over its representative as a national signifier.

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South Asia: :Southern Asia sometimes refers to all of Asia that was not part of the Soviet Union....

Indian subcontinent: The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent and other terms, is a region of the Asian (and, in turn, the Eurasian) continent on the Indian tectonic plate south of the Himalayas, forming a land mass which extends southward into the Indian Ocean....

Kilometre: A kilometre (American spelling: kilometer), symbol: km is a unit of length in the metric system equal to 1000 metres (from the Greek words ????? (khilia) = thousand and ????? (metro) = count/measure). It is approximately equal to 0.621 miles, 1094 yards or 3281 feet....

India related Images and Photos (experimental)

India Tea	India Arie	India Benares	Composite: India c.1901
India- Fly TWA	Air India	West India	To India c.1914
India Womens Day Khushlawa India	Kerala India	Mother India	Incense India