什麼是印度

正式名稱印度共和國（Republic of India）

印度語作Bharat

南亞共和國。東南臨孟加拉，西南瀕阿拉伯海。面積3,166,414平方公里。人口約1,029,991,000（2001）。首都︰新德里。印度人民構成廣泛，來自各個人種的不同混合，他們有的在史前時期已定居於次大陸，有的是入侵者。語言︰印度語、英語（均為官方語）；以及許多其他語言，包括孟加拉語、喀什米爾語、馬拉塔語、烏爾都語，以及達羅毗荼諸語言和其他分屬若干語系的數百種語言。宗教：印度教、佛教、耆那教、錫克教、伊斯蘭教及基督教。貨幣︰盧比（Re）。印度有三個主要的地理區︰喜馬拉雅山構成北方邊界；恆河平原由三大河系的沖積土沈積而成，其中包括恆河；南部地區，以德干高原着稱。農產品包括稻米、小麥、棉花、甘蔗、椰子、香料、黃麻、煙草、茶葉、咖啡和橡膠。製造業多種多樣，擁有高技術重工業。政府形式是共和國，兩院制。國家元首是總統，政府首腦為總理。

印度已有人居住數千年之久。農業在印度的出現可以追溯到西元前7千紀，而印度河流域的城市文明創於西元前2600年。佛教和耆那教興起於西元前6世紀，主要是為了抵制種姓社會，這一社會乃是從吠陀教及其後繼宗教發展而來的。穆斯林的入侵始於西元1000年左右。1206年，歷時頗長的德里蘇丹國建立，1526年蒙兀兒王朝建立。1498年，達伽馬航至印度，延續數世紀的葡萄牙、荷蘭、英國和法國之間的商業競爭就此肇端。18和19世紀英國征服了印度，致使英屬東印度公司的統治，1858年始由大英帝國直接管理。1947年在甘地協助下結束了英國的統治後，尼赫魯成為印度首任總理。此後除少數幾年外，他的女兒甘地夫人、外孫拉吉夫.甘地（參閲Gandhi, Rajiv）始終引導着民族的命運，直到1991年。1947年次大陸被分割成兩個國家--印度（印度人佔多數）和巴基斯坦（穆斯林佔多數）。最後一次與巴基斯坦的衝突導致1971年孟加拉國的建立。在1980年代和1990年代，錫克人力圖在旁遮普建立一個獨立國家，而在其他地方，種族和宗教的衝突也曾不斷出現。

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.