India, officially the Republic of India (Bharat Ga?arajya),[e] is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh largest country by area, the second most populous country (with over 1.2 billion people), and the world's most populous democracy. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the south, the Arabian Sea to the southwest and the Bay of Bengal to the southeast. It shares land borders with Pakistan to the west; China, Nepal and Bhutan in the northeast; and Myanmar (Burma) and Bangladesh to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is located near Sri Lanka and the Maldives. India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand and Indonesia. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay The Indian subcontinent was home to the Indus Valley urban civilization of the 3rd millennium BCE. Over the next millennium, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism began to be composed. Social stratification, based on caste, emerged in the first millennium BCE, and Buddhism and Jainism emerged. The first political consolidations took place under the Maurya and Gupta empires; the later peninsular Middle Kingdoms influenced cultures as far away as Southeast Asia. In medieval times, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity and Islam arrived, as well as Sikhism, all of which contributed to the region's cultural diversity. Much of the north fell to the Delhi Sultanate; the south was united under the Vijayanagara Empire. The economy developed in the 17th century in the Mughal Empire. In the mid-18th century, the subcontinent came under the rule of the British East India Company, and in the mid-19th century under the rule of the British crown. A nationalist movement emerged in the late 19th century, which later, under Mahatma Gandhi, became noted for its nonviolent resistance and led to India's independence in 1947. In 2016, a Global tourism rankings survey compiled by the United Nations World Tourism Organization, the nation is visited by approximately 14.6 million tourists each year (2016), making it the 8th most visited country in the region Asia-Pacific. In 2017, the Indian economy was the sixth largest in the world in terms of nominal GDP and the third largest in terms of purchasing power parity. Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India became one of the fastest growing major economies and is considered a newly industrialized country. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized article from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay However, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, corruption, malnutrition and an inadequate public health system. A nuclear-armed state and regional power, it has the second largest standing army in the world and ranks fifth in military spending among nations. India is a federal republic governed by a parliamentary system and composed of 29 states and 7 union territories. India is widely recognized for its vast cinema, rich cuisine and lush wildlife and vegetation. It is a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic society that is also home to diverse wildlife in a variety of protected habitats..