India

The Indus Valley Civilisation, one of the world's first, built planned brick cities in the northwest around 2500 BC. Later came the Vedic age and the composition of the Hindu scriptures, the rise of Buddhism and Jainism, and the first great empires — the Mauryas under Ashoka, who spread Buddhism, and the Guptas, a classical golden age of mathematics, astronomy, and art.

From the twelfth century, Turkic and Afghan dynasties established the Delhi Sultanate, and in 1526 the Mughals founded an empire that at its height ruled most of the subcontinent and left the Taj Mahal, the Red Fort, and a fusion of Persian and Indian culture. As Mughal power waned, regional states and European trading companies moved in.

The British East India Company became the dominant power after 1757, and the British Crown took direct control after the 1857 rebellion. A mass independence movement, led by Gandhi's campaign of non-violent resistance and by Nehru, Ambedkar, Jinnah, and many others, ended British rule in 1947 — but Partition split the subcontinent into India and Pakistan amid enormous violence and the displacement of some fifteen million people. India adopted a democratic republican constitution in 1950 and has held regular elections since, through wars with Pakistan and China, a 1975–77 suspension of democracy, economic liberalisation in 1991, and, since 2014, government by Narendra Modi and the Hindu-nationalist BJP.

India is the birthplace of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, and home to one of the world's largest Muslim populations, plus long-established Christian, Parsi, and Jewish communities. Roughly four-fifths of Indians are Hindu, and the festival calendar — Diwali, Holi, Navratri, Ganesh Chaturthi, Eid, Christmas, Pongal, Onam, and hundreds of local celebrations — fills the year.

The caste system, though outlawed as a basis for discrimination, still shapes marriage, social networks, and politics, and affirmative-action "reservations" are a major and contested feature of public life. The extended family remains central, arranged marriage is still common, and respect for elders and for guests ("atithi devo bhava," the guest is god) is a strong value.

Culture is produced on a vast scale: the world's largest film industry, spanning Bollywood and powerful regional cinemas; classical music and dance traditions (Hindustani and Carnatic music, Bharatanatyam, Kathak, and more); a deep literary inheritance in many languages; and a national obsession with cricket.

India's population — now the world's largest, past 1.4 billion — is still mostly rural, farming the Gangetic plains, the Deccan, and the coasts, though cities are growing fast: Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Chennai, and Hyderabad are among the world's largest urban areas, mixing gleaming tech campuses with dense informal settlements.

The economy is one of the world's largest and fastest-growing, strong in IT and business services, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, and agriculture, yet with a huge informal workforce and persistent poverty and inequality. Government schemes, subsidised food, and a spreading digital-payments and identity system shape daily life for hundreds of millions.

Everyday life runs on the joint family, the neighbourhood market and tea stall, the crowded train and bus, and the festival and religious calendar. Vegetarianism is widespread — perhaps a third of the country — and food, family, and faith are inseparable from routine.

There is no single Indian cuisine but a continent of them. The north leans on wheat (roti, naan, paratha), dairy, and rich Mughlai and Punjabi dishes — dal makhani, paneer, kebabs, biryani. The south is rice-based and often fierier — dosa and idli with sambar and coconut chutney, Chettinad and Andhra cooking, Kerala's coconut-and-curry-leaf seafood. Bengal and the east favour fish, mustard oil, and an unrivalled range of milk sweets.

The west spans Gujarati vegetarian thalis, Goan pork vindaloo and fish curry, and Maharashtrian street food (vada pav, misal). Everywhere there is chaat — tangy, crunchy snacks — and roadside chai brewed strong with milk, sugar, and spice.

Regional thalis, served on a platter or banana leaf, are the best way to sample a place's range in one meal. Alcohol laws vary sharply by state, from dry Gujarat to Goa's relaxed bars; lassi, nimbu pani, fresh coconut water, and filter coffee in the south are the everyday drinks.

The "Golden Triangle" of Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur is the classic first trip: Old and New Delhi's forts, tombs, and bazaars; the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort; and the palaces, forts, and pink-walled old city of Jaipur. Rajasthan continues with the lake palaces of Udaipur, the blue city of Jodhpur, the desert fort of Jaisalmer, and camel country around Pushkar.

Varanasi, on the Ganges, is the spiritual heart for many Hindus, its riverbank ghats alive with bathing, cremation, and evening fire ceremonies. Kerala offers a gentler pace — houseboats on the backwaters, tea hills at Munnar, Ayurveda, and Fort Kochi — and Goa its beaches and Portuguese churches. The Himalayan north includes Ladakh's high-altitude monasteries, the hill stations and tea gardens of Darjeeling and the Northeast, and Rishikesh on the Ganges.

Other highlights: the erotic temple carvings of Khajuraho and the rock-cut caves of Ajanta and Ellora; the ruined Vijayanagara capital at Hampi; Amritsar's Golden Temple; Mumbai's colonial and Art Deco waterfront and Elephanta Island; and tiger reserves such as Ranthambhore, Bandhavgarh, and Kanha, and the one-horned rhinos of Kaziranga in Assam.