7th largest country in the world, India occupies the greater part of South Asia. Its capital is New Delhi, built in the 20th century just south of the historic hub of Old Delhi to serve as India’s administrative centre. Officially known as the Republic of India, its government is a constitutional republic that represents a highly diverse population consisting of thousands of ethnic groups and likely hundreds of languages.

It is known from archaeological evidence that a highly sophisticated urbanized culture—the Indus civilization—dominated the north-western part of the subcontinent from about 2600 to 2000 BCE. notably Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, originated in India—though their presence there is now quite small—and throughout the centuries residents of the subcontinent developed a rich intellectual life in such fields as mathematics, astronomy, architecture, literature, music, and the fine arts.