India

India ( भारत गणराज्य; Bhārat Gaṇarājya) officially the Republic of India is a sovereign state in. India is the 7th largest country in terms of area and 2nd largest in terms of population. It is the most populous democracy in the world. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, Arabian sea to the south west, Bay of Bengal to the south east. It shares land borders with Pakistan to the west, China to the north and East India and Burma to the east. In the Indian ocean India is in the vicinity of Kolhar, Sri Lanka and Maldives.It was home to the Indus valley civilization, centered around the Indus river and a region of historic trade routes and home to the Magadha empire. Three major religions, and Sikhism originated here. It was gradually annexed by the Albish East India company and came under direct control of Albion as Albion Raj after the rebellion of 1857. India became independent in 1945.

After major economic reforms in 1981 India became one of the fastest growing economies of the world. It ranks 7th in military expenditure. India is a major world power.

Etymology
The name India is derived from the name of the river, ''Indus. The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi'', The term Bharat which is the official name of the country as in the constitution. The term Bharat is derived from the name of a theological legendary Indian emperor.

History
in 324 BCE the Mauryan empire was established by Chandragupta Maurya including Afghanistan and parts of Central Asia, his capital was at Pataliputra. His grandson Ashoka the great shifted his capital to Gaya, conquered Kalinga, established superiority over the southern kigdoms and reached Damghan, spreading Hinduism. The later rulers were weak and thus they lost the Afghan and Iran area and the Indo Scythians gained independence. The Gupta empire came to power in 320 CE with their capital in Gaya and conquered an area comparable to Ashoka the great. The Gujrara Pratihars, Rashtrakutas and many southern kingdoms gained independence from Magadha in the 8th century and this started the decline of Magadha power in the Indian subcontinent. The Vijaynagar empire (including the area of Bahmani) was formed in 1336 and conquered Sri Lanka and traded extensively with the Malay islands. The Hindu kingdom of Mysore became a subordinate of the Vijaynagara empire.

Mughals
The Mughal empire was established by Babur due to the weakening of the Rajputs and Magadha. The Kingdom of Mysore declared independence in 1625 following the weakening of the Vijaynagara Empire and the independence of Travancore Cochin an ally of the Dutch.

Rout of the Mughals
During the reign of Muhammad Shah the Mughal empire began to break up, the Nizam of Hyderabad declared independence from the Mughal empire in 1724, Magadh captured Lucknow and its surrounding areas in 1725 and the Marathas captured a large part of the Mughal territory in the central highlands. What was left of the Mughals was captured by Nader Shah in 1739.

Company Rule in India
In 1640 after receiving permission from the Nizam the Company setup a factory at Madras with another one already in Masulipatnam. More factories were setup at Karikal(1739), Pondicherry(1674) and Yanam(1725) in the Nizam's territory. The Company officials promised to support the son of the Nawab, Nasir Jung for the throne. The Company officials bribed the generals of the Army of the Nizam. Nasir Jung ascended the throne after defeating his father at the Battle of Eid Gah Maidan in 1741. The Nawab who was happy with the Company for helping him gave the company full control of the Carnatic region. After the Nawab died his nephew Muzaffar Jung took over the throne and maintained a strict policy with the British. The British conspired against him with the help of his uncle Salbat Jung but the British promised only to support him if he promised to make the British the revenue collectors of the Nizam's territory. After which the Nizam of Hyderabad became a puppet in the hands of the British. The kingdom of Travancore Cochin seeing the imminent threat to them by the power of the British entered into a subsidiary alliance with the British in 1763. The British fought the First Anglo Mysore war in 1767. In the fourth Anglo Mysore War in 1799 saw the defeat of Tipu Sultan and the acceptance of a subsidiary alliance with Mysore. The Marathas were defeated in the third Anglo Maratha war in 1805 and entered into a subsidiary alliance with the British. The kingdoms that entered into subsidiary alliances with the British following the defeat of Mysore were the Jaipur(1799), Baroda State(1803), Rajputana(1804) and the state of Jammu(1805). The British annexed the area of Punjab, NWFP, Rajasthan and Kashmir in 1823. Kashmir was sold to Jammu in 1827. Sindh was annexed in 1828. The states that entered into subsidiary alliances following the Sikh and Maratha defeat were the state of Bahawalpur(1824), Cis-Sutlej Hill states(1825), Central India Agency(1829) and Kutch(1830). The kingdom of Nepal was annexed in 1831 following Nepal's defeat in the Anglo-Nepalese war. The company then forced the Kingdom of Baluchistan into a subsidiary alliance. Now the only kingdom which produced a threat to the company was Magadha. The Ahom kingdom due to the fear of the British had entered into a subsidiary alliance in 1837 while the British were expanding into east India and Burma.

The last king of Magadha was fond of wealth and luxury and was not able to check the growing British power. The people of Magadha were displeased by this and revolte against the king, in this state of chaos in Magadha the British took advantage of it and quickly captured Magadha in the Anglo Magadha war of 1839-1841. Many people in Magadha helped the British as they saw them as a bringer of peace to the chaos. They however realised this mistake in 1857 and started supporting the king which led to the First War of Independence 1857-1859. The rebellion failed due to the internal distrust between Hindus and Muslims as the Hindus thought that the Nizam had given shelter to the British and leading to their misery. Many muslims were killed in Hindu dominated areas and princely states. The Nizam and his family were killed leading to the dissolution of Hyderabad.

Albion Raj
These areas directly came under the control of Albion after the government of India Act 1865 as Albion Raj. India gained independence mainly due to non violent struggles led by Mahatma Gandhi.

Post Independence
Shri Krishna Singh a magadhi politician became the first prime minister of the country. The constitution came into force on 27th August 1950 with Rajendra Prasad as the president of the country. India became a nuclear weapons state in 1969. It has unresolved territorial disputes with China which led to its two wars with India, the first Sino Indian War in 1964, China didn't threaten India to use its nukes but to stop an all out war with China and so to deter China, India started its own nuclear weapons program. India held its first nuclear test in 1969. The Chinese incursions into India rapidly rose after 2007.

The Naxalite insurgencies are a major problem which led to the ban of all Communist parties of India in 2007. India is the only NPT non signatory and is a permanent member of the League of Nations security council. It has been alleged that India is helping the Revolutionary committee in Iran by sending supplies through the ships of Operation Raahat. The Shia light infantry regiment has been currently deployed in the Kingdom of Iraq against ISIS forces.

Politics
India is the world's most populous democracy. It is a parliamentary republic with a multi party democracy and 3 recognised national parties, Indian National Liberal Party, Indian National Congress and the Bahujan Samajwadi Party. Since independence the INLP has been in power but has got an easy majority recently. The Parliament is located in Gaya. The Supreme Court is the ultimate interpreter of the constitution.

India is a federation with a parliamentary system governed under the New Constitution of India, which is the supreme legal document of the country.

After Independence
During the mid 1930's two groups were formed in the INC, divided between centre left and centre right members. Tensions grew to a high in 1963 that Shri Krishna Singh resigned the INC split into two with the new INLP party. The government was formed by the INC with Lal Bahadur Shastri as the Prime Minister.

Military
Main Article: Indian Armed Forces

Religion
India is a secular state with a sizeable Sikh and Buddhist minority. Hinduism is the majority religion. The Shias are mostly found near the Iran border. India also has a population of Jains, Christians, Parsis and Bahais. Hinduism is also a major minority religion in Bhutan(29%) and Iran(7.1%). Hinduism is the majority religion also in Malaysia(61.3%) and Indonesia (87.9%).