India, officially the Republic of India(IAST: Bhārat Gaṇarājya),[23][24][d] is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country (with over 1.2 billion people), and the most populousdemocracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, theArabian Sea on the south-west, and theBay of Bengal on the south-east, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west;[e] China, Nepal, and Bhutanto the north-east; and Myanmar (Burma) and Bangladesh to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives; in addition, India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border withThailand and Indonesia.
Home to the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation and a region of historic trade routes and vast empires, theIndian subcontinent was identified with its commercial and cultural wealth for much of its long history.[25] Four religions—Hinduism, Buddhism,Jainism, and Sikhism—originated here, whereas Zoroastrianism, Judaism,Christianity, and Islam arrived in the 1st millennium CE and also shaped the region's diverse culture. Gradually annexed by and brought under the administration of the British East India Company from the early 18th century and administered directly by the United Kingdom after the Indian Rebellion of 1857, India became an independent nation in 1947 after a struggle for independence that was marked by non-violent resistance led by Mahatma Gandhi.