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An Overview
The subcontinent of India lies in south Asia,
between Pakistan, China and Nepal.
To the north it is bordered by the world's highest mountain chain,
where foothill valleys cover the northernmost
of the country's 28 states. Further south, plateaus,
tropical rain forests and sandy deserts are
bordered by palm fringed beaches .
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Area: |
3287263 qkm |
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Expansion: |
N-S 3200 km W-E
2700 km |
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Population: |
ca. 979.673.000 Mio |
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Languages: |
Hindi, Englisch,
Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya,
Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Sanskrit, Hindustani |
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Religious: |
Hindus (82%),
Muslims(11%),
Christians (2,5), Sikhs (2%),
Buddhists (1%),
Jains, Parses and Jews (0,5%) |
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Currency: |
1 India Rupie (iR) =
100 Paise |
Regions in India:
28 States und 7
Union-Territorien*:
Andaman and Nicobar
Islands*, Andhra Pradesh,
Arunachal Pradesh, Assam,
Bihar, Chandigarh*,
Dadra and Nagar
Haveli*, Daman and Diu*, Delhi*,
Goa, Gujarat, Haryana,
Himachal Pradesh,
Jammu and Kashmir,
Karnataka, Kerala, Lakshadweep*,
Madhya Pradesh,
Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya,
Mizoram, Nagaland, Orissa,
Pondicherry*, Punjab, Rajasthan,
Sikkim, Tamil Nadu,
Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal
The roots of Indian civilisation stretch back in
time to pre-recorded history. The earliest human activity
in the Indian sub-continent can be traced
back to the Early, Middle and Late Stone
Ages (400,000-200,000 BC).
Implements from all three periods have
been found from Rajasthan, Gujarat, Bihar,
parts of what is now Pakistan and the southern
most tip of the Indian Peninsula.
India's history goes back to
3,200 BC when Hinduism
was first founded.
Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism. Judaism.
Zoroashtrianism, Christianity and Islam
all
exist within the
country today.
As a consequence of India's size, the
history of the country
has seldom been the same for two
adjoining territories,
and its great natural
wealth has lured a
succession of traders
and foreign influences to it,
each having left their
imprint in the country,
however faint or
localized.
Thus, Chinese fishing nets in Kerala are a
throwback
to that country's ancient maritime trade,
while
in the north, terra-cotta figurines of the
centuries BC bear distinctly Greek traces.
Modern India is home alike to
the tribal with his
anachronistic
lifestyle and to the sophisticated
urban jetsetter. It is
a land where temple elephants
exist amicably with the
microchip.
Its ancient monuments
are the backdrop
for the world's
largest democracy where
atomic energy is
generated and industrial development
has brought the country
within the world's top ten nations.
Today, fishermen along
the country's coastline
fashion simple fishing
boats in a centuries
old tradition while, a
few miles away
motor vehicles glide
off conveyor belts
in state-of-the-art
factories.
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