什么是印度

正式名称印度共和国（Republic of India）

印度语作Bharat

南亚共和国。东南临孟加拉，西南濒阿拉伯海。面积3,166,414平方公里。人口约1,029,991,000（2001）。首都︰新德里。印度人民构成广泛，来自各个人种的不同混合，他们有的在史前时期已定居於次大陆，有的是入侵者。语言︰印度语、英语（均为官方语）；以及许多其他语言，包括孟加拉语、喀什米尔语、马拉塔语、乌尔都语，以及达罗毗荼诸语言和其他分属若干语系的数百种语言。宗教：印度教、佛教、耆那教、锡克教、伊斯兰教及基督教。货币︰卢比（Re）。印度有三个主要的地理区︰喜马拉雅山构成北方边界；恒河平原由三大河系的冲积土沈积而成，其中包括恒河；南部地区，以德干高原着称。农产品包括稻米、小麦、棉花、甘蔗、椰子、香料、黄麻、烟草、茶叶、咖啡和橡胶。制造业多种多样，拥有高技术重工业。政府形式是共和国，两院制。国家元首是总统，政府首脑为总理。

印度已有人居住数千年之久。农业在印度的出现可以追溯到西元前7千纪，而印度河流域的城市文明创於西元前2600年。佛教和耆那教兴起於西元前6世纪，主要是为了抵制种姓社会，这一社会乃是从吠陀教及其後继宗教发展而来的。穆斯林的入侵始於西元1000年左右。1206年，历时颇长的德里苏丹国建立，1526年蒙兀儿王朝建立。1498年，达伽马航至印度，延续数世纪的葡萄牙、荷兰、英国和法国之间的商业竞争就此肇端。18和19世纪英国征服了印度，致使英属东印度公司的统治，1858年始由大英帝国直接管理。1947年在甘地协助下结束了英国的统治後，尼赫鲁成为印度首任总理。此後除少数几年外，他的女儿甘地夫人、外孙拉吉夫.甘地（参阅Gandhi, Rajiv）始终引导着民族的命运，直到1991年。1947年次大陆被分割成两个国家--印度（印度人占多数）和巴基斯坦（穆斯林占多数）。最後一次与巴基斯坦的冲突导致1971年孟加拉国的建立。在1980年代和1990年代，锡克人力图在旁遮普建立一个独立国家，而在其他地方，种族和宗教的冲突也曾不断出现。

India

HindiBharatRepublic, South Asia. It fronts the Bay of Bengal on the southeast and the Arabian Sea on the southwest. Area: 1,222,559 sq mi (3,166,414 sq km). Population (1997 est.): 967,613,000. Capital: New Delhi. The peoples of India comprise widely varying mixtures of ethnic strains drawn from peoples settled in the subcontinent before the dawn of history, or from invaders. Languages: Hindi, English (both official); many other languages, including Bengali, Kashmiri, Marthi, and Urdu; Dravidian languages; hundreds from several other language families. Religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Islam, Christianity. Currency: rupee. India has three major geographic regions: the Himalayas which form its northern border; the Indo-Gangetic Plain, formed by the alluvial deposits of three great river systems, including the Ganges; and the southern region, noted for the Deccan plateau. Agricultural products include rice, wheat, cotton, sugarcane, coconut, spices, jute, tobacco, tea, coffee, and rubber. Its manufacturing sector is highly diversified and includes both heavy and high-technology industries. It is a republic with two legislative houses; its chief of state is the president, and the head of government is the prime minister. India has been inhabited for thousands of years. Agriculture in India dates back to the 7th millennium BC, and an urban civilization, that of the Indus valley, was established by 2600 BC. Buddhism and Jainism arose in the 6th century BC in reaction to the caste-based society created by the Vedic religion and its successor, Hinduism. Muslin invasions began c. AD 1000, establishing the long-lived Delhi sultanate in 1206 and the Mughal dynasty in 1526. Vasco da Gama's voyage to India in 1498 initiated several centuries of commercial rivalry among the Portuguese, Dutch, English, and French. British conquests in the 18th and 19th century led to the rule of the British East India Co. and direct administration by the British empire began in 1858. After Mohandas K. Gandhi helped end British rule in 1947, Jawaharlal Nehru became its first prime minister and he, his daughter Indira Gandhi, and grandson Rajiv Gandhi guided the nation's destiny for all but a few years until 1991. The subcontinent was partitioned into two countries—India, with a Hindu majority, and Pakistan, with a Muslim majority in 1947. A later clash with Pakistan resulted in the creation of Bangladesh in 1971. In the 1980s and '90s, Sikhs sought to establish an independent state in Punjab, and ethnic and religious conflicts took place in other parts of the country as well.