Arab incursions starting in the 8th century and Turkish in the 12th were followed by those of European traders, beginning in the late 15th century. By the 19th century, Britain had assumed political control of virtually all Indian lands.

Nonviolent resistance to British colonialism led by Mohandas Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru brought independence in 1947 and the subcontinent was divided into the secular state of India and the smaller Muslim state of Pakistan. In 1971 East Pakistan become the separate nation of Bangladesh.

The population and its growth rate were estimated in July 2005 at 1.08 billion and 1.4% per annum respectively.

India, with a land area of 2.97 million km2, is approximately the size of Queensland and the Northern Territory combined and some 0.4million km2 larger than Western Australia

Geographically the country is divided into the National Capital Territory of Delhi, twenty eight States and six Union Territories.

Its terrain varies from an upland plain in the south, flat to rolling plain along the Ganges River, deserts in the west and the Himalaya Ranges in the north.

The climate varies from tropical monsoon in the south to temperate in the north.

English is the most important language for national, political, and commercial communication, while Hindi is the national language and primary tongue of 30% of the people. There are fourteen other official languages.