March 1, 2012 Country Analysis and Profile
India: Country Analysis and Profile
History
-The first group to invade India were the Aryans, who came out of the north in about 1500 BC.
-The second great invasion into India occurred around 500 BC, when the Persian kings Cyrus and Darius, pushing their empire eastward, conquered the ever-prized Indus Valley
-It was during the third century BC that the country united under Asoka the Great, during a time that was called India’s Golden Age. It was during this time that India made great advances in mathematics, art, language, astronomy and religion. In fact, both Hinduism and Buddhism came from India around this time.
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Geography
-3.29 sq km (One third of the US)
-Bordered by borders with Pakistan to the west; China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north-east; and Burma and Bangladesh to the east
-Capital: New Delhi
-Terrain-Varies from Himalayas to flat rivers and deserts in the west
-Climate-Alpine to temperate to subtropical monsoon
Economy
-Natural resources: Coal, iron, ore, manganese, mica, bauxite, chromite, thorium, limestone, barite, titanium ore, diamonds, crude oil.
-Agriculture: Products-wheat, rice, coarse grains, oilseeds, sugar, cotton, jute, tea
-Industry: Types-textiles, jute, processed food, steel, machinery, transport equipment, cement, aluminum, fertilizers, mining, petroleum, chemicals, and computer software.
-Trade ties with U.S., Russia, China and Japan
-Unemployment rate: 9.8% (2011)
-1 USD=49.0725 Rupee
Government and Politics
Culture
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Society
-Population: 1.21 Billion, the second populous country
-Ethnicities: Indo-Aryan 72%, Dravidian 25%, Monogoloid and other 3-
-Religions: Hindu 80.5%, Muslim 13.4 %, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 1.9%, other 1.8%, unspecified 0.1% -Languages: Hindi 41%, Bengali 8.1%, Telugu 7.2%, Marathi 7%, Tamil 5.9%, Urdu 5%, Gujarati 4.5%, Kannada 3.7%, Malayalam 3.2%, Oriya 3.2%, Punjabi 2.8%,