It is the country by area and with more thanit is the country and the most populous in the world. Bounded by the on the south, the on the southwest, and the on the southeast, it shares land borders with to the west;, and to india time now northeast; and and to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of and thewhile its share a maritime border with and. In the following millennium, the oldest scriptures associated with began to be composed. Early political consolidations took place under the and ; later peninsular influenced cultures as far as Southeast Asia. In the medieval era,and arrived, and emerged, all adding to the region's. Much of the north fell to the ; the south was united under the. The economy expanded in the 17th century in the. In the mid-18th century, the subcontinent came under Britishand in the mid-19th under British. A emerged in the late 19th century, india time now later, underwas noted for and led to India's independence in 1947. India time now 2017, the was the world's by nominal and by. Following in 1991, India became one of the and is considered a. However, it continues to face the challenges of,and. A and india time now, it has the in the world and ranks among nations. India is a governed under a and consists of. Amultilingual and multi-ethnic society, it is also home to a diversity of in a variety of. Main article: The name India is derived from Indus, which originates from the wordequivalent to the word Sindhu, which was the historical local appellation for the. The geographical term Bharat Bhārat; pronouncedwhich is recognised by the as an official name for the country, is used by in its variations. It is a modernisation of the historical name Bharatavarsha, which traditionally referred to the Indian subcontinent and gained increasing currency from the mid-19th century as a native name for India. It was introduced into India by the and widely used since then. Its meaning varied, referring to a region that encompassed northern India and or India in its entirety. Currently, the name may refer to either the northern part of India or the entire country. History Main articles: and Ancient India The earliest known remains in date to about 30,000 years ago. Nearly contemporaneous human rock art sites have been found in many parts of the Indian subcontinent, including at the in. Centred around cities such as,andand relying on varied forms of subsistence, the civilization engaged robustly in india time now production and wide-ranging trade. Thethe oldest scriptures associated withwere composed during this period, and historians have analysed these to posit a in the and the upper. Most historians also consider this period to have encompassed several waves of into the subcontinent from the north-west. Thewhich created a hierarchy of priests, warriors, and free peasants, but which excluded indigenous peoples by labeling their occupations impure, arose during this period. On thearchaeological evidence from this period suggests the existence of a chiefdom stage of political organisation. Ina progression to sedentary life is indicated by the large number of monuments dating from this period, as well as by nearby traces of agriculture, irrigation tanks, and craft traditions. The emerging urbanisation gave rise to non-Vedic religious movements, two of which became independent religions. Jainism came into prominence during the life of its exemplar. Buddhism, based on the teachings ofattracted followers from all social classes excepting the middle class; chronicling the life of the Buddha was central to the beginnings of recorded history in India. In an age of increasing urban wealth, both religions held up as an ideal, and both established long-lasting monastic traditions. The empire was once thought to have controlled most of the subcontinent excepting the far south, but its core regions are now thought to have been separated by large autonomous areas. The Mauryan kings are known as much for their empire-building and determined management of public life as for 's renunciation of militarism and far-flung advocacy of the Buddhist. In North India, Hinduism asserted patriarchal control within the family, leading to increased subordination of women. By the 4th and 5th centuries, the had created in the greater Ganges Plain a complex system of administration and taxation that became a model for later Indian kingdoms. Under the Guptas, a renewed Hinduism based on devotion rather than the management of ritual began to assert itself. The renewal was reflected in a flowering of andwhich found patrons among an urban elite. When his successor attempted to expand eastwards, he was defeated by the king of. When the Chalukyas attempted to expand southwards, they were defeated by the from farther south, who in turn were opposed by the and the from still farther south. No ruler of this period was able to create an empire and consistently control lands much beyond his core region. During this time, pastoral peoples whose land had been cleared to make way for the growing agricultural economy were accommodated within caste society, as were new non-traditional ruling classes. The caste system consequently began to show regional differences. In the 6th and 7th centuries, the first were created in the Tamil language. They were imitated all over India and led to both the resurgence of Hinduism and the development of all. Indian royalty, big and small, and the temples they patronised drew citizens in great numbers to the capital cities, which became economic hubs as well. Temple towns of various sizes began to appear everywhere as India underwent another urbanisation. By the 8th and 9th centuries, the effects were felt in South-East Asia, as South Indian culture and political systems were exported to lands that became part of modern-day,,and. Indian merchants, scholars, and sometimes armies were involved in this transmission; South-East Asians took the initiative as well, with many sojourning in Indian seminaries and translating Buddhist and Hindu texts into their languages. After the 10th century, Muslim Central Asian nomadic clans, using cavalry and raising vast armies united by ethnicity and religion, repeatedly overran South India time now north-western plains, leading eventually to the establishment of the Islamic in 1206. The sultanate was to control much of North India and to make many forays into South India. Although at first disruptive for the Indian elites, the sultanate largely left its vast non-Muslim subject population to its own laws and customs. By repeatedly repulsing in the 13th century, the sultanate saved India from the devastation visited on West and Central Asia, setting the scene for centuries of of fleeing soldiers, learned men, mystics, traders, artists, and artisans from that region into the subcontinent, thereby creating a syncretic Indo-Islamic culture in the north. The sultanate's raiding and weakening of the regional kingdoms of South India paved the way for the indigenous. Embracing a strong tradition and building upon the military technology of the sultanate, the empire came to control much of peninsular India, and was to influence South Indian society for long afterwards. Early modern India Writing the will and testament of the Mughal king in1590—1595 In the early 16th century, northern India, being then under mainly Muslim rulers, fell again to the superior mobility and firepower of a new generation of Central Asian warriors. The resulting did not stamp out the local societies it came to rule, but rather balanced and pacified them through new administrative practices and diverse and inclusive ruling elites, leading to more systematic, centralised, and uniform rule. Eschewing tribal bonds and Islamic identity, especially underthe Mughals united their far-flung realms through loyalty, expressed through a Persianised culture, to an emperor who had near-divine status. The Mughal state's economic policies, deriving most revenues from agriculture and mandating that taxes be paid in the well-regulated silver currency, caused peasants and artisans to enter larger markets. The relative peace maintained by the empire during much of the 17th century was a factor in India's economic expansion, resulting in greater patronage ofliterary forms, textiles, and. Newly coherent social groups in northern and western India, such as thetheand thegained military and governing ambitions during Mughal rule, which, through collaboration or adversity, gave them both recognition and military experience. Expanding commerce during Mughal rule gave rise to new Indian commercial and political elites along the coasts of southern and eastern India. As the empire disintegrated, many among these elites were able to seek and control their own affairs. By the early 18th century, with the lines between commercial and political dominance being increasingly blurred, a number of European trading companies, including the Englishhad established coastal outposts. The East India Company's control of the seas, greater resources, and more advanced military training and technology led it to increasingly flex its military muscle and caused india time now to become attractive to a portion of the Indian elite; these factors were crucial in allowing the company to gain control over the region by 1765 and sideline the other European companies. Its further access to the riches of Bengal and the subsequent increased strength and size of its army enabled it to annex or subdue most of India by the 1820s. India was then no longer exporting manufactured goods as
