Information: A country.

India, or the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. The name India is derived from Indus, which originates from the Old Persian word Hindu, that stems from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, which was the historical local name for the Indus River. Historians consider India's modern age to have begun sometime between 1848 and 1885.

After World War I, India was marked by British reforms but also repressive legislations, by more strident Indian calls for self-rule. Vital to India's self-image as an independent nation was its constitution, completed in 1950, which put in place a secular and democratic republic.

India is shaped by seemingly unyielding poverty, both rural and urban, and by religious and caste-related violence.

National Dances: Bharatnatyam, Kuchipudi, Kathak, Odissi, Sattriya, Manipuri, Mohinyattam, Kathakali, Bhangra, Garba, Ghoomar, Cheraw, Bihu, Chau

Location: Asia

Languages: Indo-Aryan, Dravidian

Religion: Predominantly Hinduism