Category: India

The Indus River Valley civilization, one of the oldest in the world, flourished during the third and second millennia BC, extending to northwest India. Around 1500 BC, Northwest Aryan tribes infiltrated the Indian subcontinent. In the following centuries, classical Indian culture arose, which peaked between the 4th and 6th centuries AD, when there was a great flourishing of Indian art and culture. Christianity arrived in India in the first century of the Christian Era, through São Tomé. A period of Islamic rule followed in the western region. In the 10th and 11th centuries, Turks and Afghans invaded India and established the Delhi sultanate. In May 1487, the King of Portugal sent the Portuguese explorer Pedro de Covilham to India, through Arab routes. Covilham visited Cananor, Calicut and Goa. Returning to Cairo, Covilham sent information to India about India and went on to Ethiopia. In the early 16th century, Emperor Babur established the Mughal dynasty, which ruled India for more than three centuries. Also in the early 16th century, Portugal conquered part of the Indian coast, defeated the Arabs and dominated trade in the Indian Ocean. By the 19th century, Britain came to dominate most of the Indian subcontinent. In the first half of the 20th century, a civil disobedience movement, led by Mohandas Gandhi, shook British rule in the region and the independence of British India was finally granted in 1947. Conflicts, of mainly religious origin, forced the dismemberment of part of the old India, which changed its name to Pakistan. Currently, India has 1.2 billion people, about 80% are Hindu and about 13% are Muslim. India is one of the main emerging countries and the 21st century is booming. The government regime is a parliamentary republic, with capital in New Delhi.