India - One of the oldest and richest cultures in the world
India is the seventh largest country in the world with the second highest
population density. India has been a democratic republic belonging to the
Commonwealth since independence from Great Britain in 1947. The history
and culture of India is one of the oldest and richest in the world and is
reflected in buildings, music and literature. Over 80% of India's population
belongs to the Hindu faith communityon. Cultural events, the way of life
as well as the customs and traditions of the Indians are shaped by this
religion, in which, for example, cows are sacred and where rebirth is
believed. Without a doubt, the most famous person in India, whose work extends
far into European and Anglo-American cultures, is Mahatma Gandhi.

Around 11.5 million people study and learn at around 370 universities and
19,000 colleges. However, the illiteracy rate is still around 40% and 300
million still live below the poverty line. But 200 million Indians are now also
counted among the middle class. There are around 350 television channels in the
country that can be viewed by a total of 60% of all households with a TV
set. The annual economic growth is around 8%; the country's raw materials are
mainly chromium, petroleum, iron ore, coal and copper. The IT industry is
growing the fastest in the world, and by 2010 there will be another 11 million
jobs and sales will rise to 60 to 70 billion US dollars. In 2007 around 2
million people worked and researched in the biotechnology sector.
Unfortunately, the country is increasingly becoming a target for Muslim
fighters. Smaller and increasingly larger terrorist attacks now occur almost
every day. The last terrorist attack in Bombay (Mumbai) on November 26, 2008
probably killed 172 people, including three Germans - while 293 were injured. It
was not until November 29th that the last three assassins could be killed and
the attack ended.
Name of the country |
Republic of India |
Form of government |
Parliamentary democracy in the Commonweal |
Geographical location |
South asia |
National anthem |
Jana-Gana Mana |
Population |
approx. 1.2 billion (Credit:
Countryaah: India
Population) |
Ethnicities |
Indo-Aryans 72%
Indigenous 25%
Mongolians
Other 3% |
Religions |
Approx. 81% Hindus
Approx. 12% Muslims
Approx. 5.9% Christians
Approx. 1.8% Sikhs as well as Buddhists, followers of Jainism and
Parsees |
Languages |
Hindi and English are national languages.
There are also around 21 other recognized languages. |
Capital |
New Delhi with about 14 million residents |
Surface |
3,287,590 k m ² |
Highest mountain |
The highest mountain is the Kangchenjunga with 8,586 m. |
Longest river |
Indus with a length of around 3,180 km.
The river also flows through China and Pakistan |
Largest lake |
Wular Lake with a diameter of 15 miles |
International license plate |
I |
National currency |
Indian rupee = 100 paises |
Difference to CET |
+ 4.5h |
International phone code |
+ 91 |
Mains voltage, frequency |
230-240 volts and 50 hertz |
Internet TLD (Top Level Domain) |
.in |
India: history
Until around the year 1000
The earliest traces of human life in India go back to around 200,000
BC. Stone tools and cave paintings have come down to us from this
period. Agriculture and the first settlements took place in the fourth
millennium BC. Based on this, an extensive urban culture (Harappa culture)
developed. The Indian caste system and the Hindu ideas of the right way of life
go back to this civilization.
According to
Abbreviationfinder website, the period of upheaval in Indian civilization in the 6th century BC was
marked by military conflicts between Hindu kingdoms in northern India and the
hardening of the caste system. During this time, Buddhism developed in India.
In the third century the first Hindu kingdom (Magadha) arose, which already
ruled a large part of what would later become the whole of India. The kingdom
had an army and civil service. The most famous ruler of the time, Emperor
Ashoka, ended the military expansion and developed a new state philosophy of
social responsibility. After Ashoka's death, his empire and state ideology fell
into disrepair. Brahmins and the kings they legitimized regained the upper hand.

Towards the end of antiquity, the Gupta dynasty succeeded in establishing a
great empire. The reign of this dynasty from the fourth to the end of the fifth
century is considered to be the heyday of classical Sanskrit literature. The
classical period of ancient India under the Gupta dynasty was later considered
the golden age of India. It brought a considerable upswing in literature and
science. However, the empire was drowned in the onslaught of the Huns.
During this time, South India experienced its own territorial and dynastic
conflicts. The best known here is the Chola dynasty, which ruled the Bay of
Bengal with its fleet and annexed parts of Ceylon.
From the year 1000 to the 17th century
At the end of the 10th century AD, Islamic Turkic peoples invaded northwest
India and conquered Delhi and the Ganges plain by the 13th century. The Sultans
of Delhi based their rule on Sharia law and collected protection money from
non-Muslims. However, they did not strive for complete submission to Islam and
the elimination of the Hindu social order, although a number of temples were
destroyed.
At the beginning of the 16th century, the Mughals from Central Asia invaded
northern India and brought large parts of India under their control with their
technically superior army. Immortal buildings such as the Taj Mahal tomb in Agra
and the great Jama Masjid mosque in Delhi date from the time of the Mughal
rulers. One of the most famous rulers was Akbar (1556-1605), who expanded the
empire considerably. He managed the reforms for a stable religious peace between
Hindus and Muslims and guaranteed religious and cultural freedoms.
A century after Akbar, Aurangzeb, a Mughal, came to power whose policies led
Hindus and Muslims to split deeply into hostile fronts. Aurangzeb (1658 - 1707)
pursued an orthodox religious course, had Hindu temples torn down and prevented
the population from practicing their religion. This approach and the increasing
tax exploitation of the agricultural population led to rebellions that led to
the end of the dynasty.
In the 18th and 19th centuries
The rulers from the area around Bombay, who tried to inherit the Mughals,
raised the population against them with high taxes. They failed in the formation
of a great empire, were defeated by the invading Afghans in 1761, and finally
wore themselves out in wars against the English East India Company (East India
Company, 1708 - 1857), a private merchant company under the protection of the
British crown.
The British and French branches supported different factions in the dynastic
succession battles in southern and northern India. However, French forces could
not hold their own against the British for long. At the Battle of Plassey in
1757, they defeated the Nawab of Bengal, who had driven them from Calcutta six
years earlier, and thus initiated the beginning of English rule on the
subcontinent. Great Britain ruled India until the East India Company Riots in
1857. South India and the Ganges plain fell under British rule at the end of the
18th century, central and northeast India followed in 1830, and the Panjab was
annexed in 1849. The occupation of India by the East India Company was
accompanied by extreme exploitation of the country in its early days,
Under the Governor General Lord Bentick, Indian civil and criminal law were
codified according to the English model, and practices particularly violating
human dignity such as widow burning or ritual murders were banned. The
introduction of Western instruction in English forced the previously
Persian-speaking administrative elite to switch. English became the only
official language.
20th century until today
During the Second World War India was used by the British as a base
base. Around two million Indian soldiers fought for the British. The
interruption of rice imports from Burma and speculative price gouging led to
dramatic famines in Bengal. A concession by the British was answered in 1942
with the Quit India campaign ("Get out of India"), a protest campaign decided by
the Congress Party. However, it was crushed by the British and the Congress
leadership remained in jail for the remainder of the war.
The 1945 elections brought a Labor government to power in London. The new
government was reluctant to restore India's independence. In June 1947, the
British Viceroy, Lord Mountbatten, announced his plan for independence and
partition. Pakistan and India became independent and each drafted their own
constitution. The princely states, including Kashmir, had to choose their
respective affiliations. Border commissions were set up for the Panjab and
Bengal.
Gandhi and his closest confidante Jawaharlal Nehru were against the
partition, but then accepted it in order to avoid further conflict.
The partition was a disaster for India and Pakistan. The respective
minorities, especially in Panjab, became victims of violent groups. There were
around a million deaths. Twelve million people were displaced on both sides. In
addition, the division could not solve the problem of religious conflicts, as
only two thirds of Muslims lived in Pakistan, but one third stayed in
India. Gandhi, who advocated fair treatment of Pakistan in the division of the
colonial inheritance, was shot dead by a Hindu fanatic on January 30, 1948. The
murderer, a Brahmin, stated during questioning that he killed Gandhi because he
had granted the Muslim minority in India the same rights as the Hindus.
The immediate problem after the partition was the integration of the princely
states. Hyderabad and Kashmir presented particular problems. In Hyderabad, the
Muslim ruler hoped for international recognition, but did not bring the unrest
of his largely Hindu population under control. Indian troops then marched in in
August 1948. Kashmir, with its predominantly Muslim population, was ruled by a
Hindu maharajah, and that with a predominantly Muslim population.
The constituent assembly elected under the old constitution drafted the
constitution of the Indian Republic after independence, which came into force in
1950 and created a federal state with strong centralized elements. The sometimes
very large states brought together populations of different mother tongues and
cultural identities.
In 1993, the situation in Kashmir had come to a head with the assassination
of local religious and political leaders. The number of security guards has
increased considerably. Involvement in serious human rights violations sparked
sharp protests from the international community. In the simultaneous Panjab
conflict, which concerned the independence of the Union state, which was claimed
by force, the situation visibly calmed down. The situation in Kashmir also began
to ease slightly over the course of the year. The Indian government had set up a
National Human Rights Commission, foreign delegations were invited to assess the
situation and violent attacks by soldiers against the civilian population in
Kashmir were prosecuted and punished for the first time. These successes were
short-lived, however. Unrest broke out again after a temple where Kashmiri
rebels had holed up in February 1995 was destroyed. In 1995, separatist groups
also became more active again in north-east India, mainly driving foreigners out
of their union states. The situation in the conflict between India and Pakistan
has been moving towards an intensified armed conflict between the two nuclear
powers since December 13, 2001.
On December 13, 2001, Pakistani extremists carried out a bloody attack on the
Indian parliament in New Delhi. India calls on Pakistan to prosecute the
attackers and the people behind them or the groups. At the same time, the two
states are pulling together troop units in the region, which have been fighting
repeatedly since 11.1.2002. An initial rapprochement between the warring states
took place in the disputed area after the devastating earthquake on October 10,
2005 with probably 80,000 to 90,000 deaths in both countries.
In the election in April/May 2009, which was held within a month for
security and organizational reasons, the ruling Congress party narrowly missed
its absolute majority and thus achieved its best result for 20 years. This means
that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh can continue to govern. He has ruled since
May 22, 2004.
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