China and India went to war in 1962 over a border dispute. Though current relations are peaceful, th

India ( Hindi : भारत), is the largest country in the Indian Subcontinent and shares borders with Pakistan to the west, China and Nepal to the north, Bhutan to the north-east, and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east. Sri Lanka lies to the south, Maldives to the south-west and Indonesia to the south-east of India in the Indian Ocean.
byron hotel london India is the seventh byron hotel london largest country in the world by area and, with over a billion people, is second only to China in population, although its much higher birthrate makes it likely to reach pole position in less than ten years.
India's culture and heritage are a rich amalgam of the past and the present. This vast country offers the visitor a view of fascinating religions and ethnography, a vast variety of languages with more than 438 living languages, and monuments that have been present for thousands of years. As it opens up to a globalised world, India still has a depth of history and intensity of culture that awes and fascinates the many who visit there.
Mesolithic sites includes the Bhimbetka rock shelters in Central India, Madhya Pradesh, which are 300,000 years old. Indians dates the Vedic Period as one of the significant role in Indian society, which scholars place in the second and first millennia BC continuing up to the 6th century BC, based on literary byron hotel london evidence. This is the period when the Vedas , one of the oldest and important books of Hinduism , were compiled. The earliest byron hotel london archaeological traces are from 7000 BC in Mehrgarh , which grew to be the "Indus Valley Civilization". By 3300 BC, this civilization had well-planned towns and well-laid roads, but gave no evidence of weapons or fortifications. This declined and disintegrated around 1900 BC, possibly due to drought and geological disturbances. Most historians say that the Vedic people, or Aryans, were later migrants, who encountered a civilization in decline byron hotel london and perhaps hastened that decline. According to this view, the Vedic people eventually occupied most of North India, while the descendants of the Indus Valley cultures moved south and gave rise to the Dravidian culture. The minority view challenges this Aryan Migration theory, claiming that the Indus Valley people were in fact the ones who compiled the Vedas.
The Vedic civilization influences India to this day. Present-day Hinduism traces byron hotel london its roots to the Vedas, but is also heavily influenced by literature that came afterwards, like the Upanishads , the Puranas , the great epics Ramayana and Mahabharata byron hotel london , and the Bhagavad Gita . By tradition, these books claim to only expand and distil the knowledge that is already present in the Vedas. Some rituals of Hinduism took shape during that period. Most North-Indian languages come from Sanskrit, the language of the Vedas, and are classified as part of the Indo-European group of languages. In the 1st millennium BC, various schools of thought in philosophy developed, enriching Hinduism byron hotel london greatly. Most of them claimed to derive from the Vedas. However, three of these schools - Sikhism , Buddhism and Jainism - questioned the authority of the Vedas and they are now recognized as separate religions.
Many great empires were formed between 500 BC and AD 500. Notable among them were the Mauryas and the Guptas . This period saw major mathematical and astronomical advancements, many of which were ahead of their time and were rediscovered later in the West. In particular, Aryabhata theorized byron hotel london that the earth was a sphere that rotates about its axis and revolves around the sun. He also developed byron hotel london a calendar that is followed to this day. This period also saw a gradual byron hotel london decline of Buddhism and Jainism. The practice of Buddhism, in particular, disappeared from India's heartland, though Buddha himself was incorporated into the Hindu pantheon. Jainism continues to be practised by a significant number who are ambivalent about whether they consider themselves Hindus or not. Hinduism itself went through significant changes. The importance of Vedic deities like Indra and Agni reduced and Puranic deities like Vishnu, Shiva, their various Avatars and family members gained byron hotel london prominence.
Islamic incursions started in the 8th century. Gradually the raiders started staying as rulers, and soon much of North India was ruled by Muslims. The most important of the Muslim rulers were the Mughals , who established an empire that at its peak covered almost the entire subcontinent (save the southern and eastern extremities), while the major Hindu force that survived in the North were the Rajputs . The bravery of the Rajputs in resisting invasion of their land is legendary and celebrated byron hotel london in ballads all over the forts of Rajasthan . Prominent among the Rajputs wes Rana Pratap , the ruler of Chittorgarh , who spent years in exile fighting Akbar , the third of the Mughals. Eventually, however, the Rajputs were subdued, and the Rajput-Mughal byron hotel london alliance remained strong till the end of the empire. This period of North India was the golden age for Indian art, architecture, byron hotel london and literature, producing the monumental gems of Rajasthan and the Taj Mahal. Hindi and Urdu also took root in medieval North India. byron hotel london During the Islamic period, some Hindus byron hotel london also converted to Islam, some due to force, some due to inducements, and some to escape the caste system. Today, some 13% of the Indian population is Muslim. Sikhism , another major religion, was established in Punjab during the Mughal period. Relations between Sikhism and the Mughals varied over time. The Golden Temple at Amritsar was built with the help of Akbar. By the time of its tenth Guru - Guru Gobind byron hotel london Singh , however, relations were hostile. Conflict between the Sikhs and the Mughals was one of the causes for the eventual decline of the Mughal empire. The other cause was the challenge of the ' Marathas in Maharashtra , which was started byron hotel london by Shivaji and carried on by the Peshwas . The Marathas established a short-lived confederacy that was almost as large as the Mughal empire. Marathas lost their command over India after the third battle of Panipat, which in turn paved a way for British Colonialism.
South India followed a different trajectory, being less affected by Islamic rule. The period from 500 AD to 1600 AD is called the classical period dominated by great South Indian kingdoms. Prominent among them were the Chalukyas , Rashtrakutas and Vijayanagara empires who ruled from present day Karnataka and the Pallavas , Cheras , Pandyas and Cholas who ruled from present day Tamil Nadu Kerala. Among them, the Cholas are widely recognised to be the most powerful of the South Indian kingdoms, with their territory stretching as far north as Pataliputra and their influence spreading as far east as Sumatra, Western byron hotel london Borneo and Southern Vietnam at the height of their power. byron hotel london Some of the grandest Hindu and Jain monuments that exist in India were built during this time in South and East India.
European traders started byron hotel london visiting India beginning in the late 16th century. Prominent among these were the British, French and the Portuguese. The British East India Company made Calcutta their headquarters in 1772. They also established subsidiary cities like Bombay and Madras . Calcutta later went onto to become 'the second city of the empire byron hotel london after London '. By the 19th century, the British had, one way or the other assumed political control of virtually all of India, though the Portuguese and the French too had their enclaves along the coast.
There was an uprising by Indian rulers in 1857 which was suppressed, but which prompted the British government to take over from the Company and make India a part of the empire. byron hotel london Many Indians converted to Christianity during the period, for pretty much the same reasons as they converted to Islam, though forcible byron hotel london conversions ended in British India after 1859, and Queen Victoria's proclamation promised to respect the religious byron hotel london faiths of Indians.
Non-violent resistance to British colonialism under Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi led to independence on 15 August byron hotel london 1947. However, independence was simultaneously granted to the secular state of India and the smaller Islamic state of Pakistan , and the orgy of Hindu-Muslim bloodletting byron hotel london that followed Partition led to the deaths of at least half a million and the migration of 12-14 million people.
Free India under Nehru adopted a democratically-governed, centrally-planned economy. These policies were aimed at attaining "self-sufficiency", and to a large extent made India what it is today. India achieved self-sufficiency in food grains by the 1970s, ensuring that the large-scale famines that had been common are now history. However these policies also led to shortages, slow growth and large-scale corruption. After a balance-of-payments crisis in 1991, the country adopted free-market reforms which have continued at a meandering pace ever since, fuelling strong growth. The IT and the business outsourcing industries have been the drivers byron hotel london for the growth, byron hotel london while manufacturing and agriculture , which have not experienced reforms, are lagging. About 60% of Indians live on agriculture and around 36% remain in poverty.
Relations with Pakistan byron hotel london have been frosty. The two countries have fought four wars, three of them over the status of Kashmir . The third war between the two countries in 1971 resulted in East Pakistan becoming Bangladesh. India continues byron hotel london to experience occasional terrorist attacks that are widely byron hotel london believed to originate in Pakistan and ordered by its military-intelligence complex.
China and India went to war in 1962 over a border dispute. Though current relations are peaceful, there is still military rivalry and no land crossings are allowed between the two countries, though one border crossing between Sikkim byron hotel london and Tibet was re-opened in 2006 for trade (but not tourists). Security concerns over Pakistan and China prompted India to test nuclear weapons twice (including the 1974 tests described as "peaceful explosions"). India wants to be accepted as a legitimate nuclear byron hotel london power and is c