History

India’s history is intrinsic to its modern identity, vast and barely graspable. Its thousands of years have seen hundreds of invasions, the rise and fall of myriad empires and colonisation by the Mughals, the Portuguese, the French and of course the British.

In the 17th century British traders were given permission to trade in Bengal. At this time the  Mughals controlled India but slowly the British took over until by the early 19th century India was effectively under British control. The Indian Mutiny in 1857 led the British government to take over administration of India from the East India Company.

Notions of Indian independence were temporarily pushed aside at the start of the 20th century and India fought alongside Britain in two world wars. During this time Mahatma Gandhi began the struggle for independence through non-violent resistance. In 1942 he introduced the ‘Quit India’ campaign and was imprisoned, not for the first time, for subversive behaviour. Gandhi was assassinated in January 1948, not long after India gained her independence from Britain in 1947.

Amid fears that India would slide into civil war, the decision to divide India into Muslim and Hindu territories; went hand in hand with Independence, with Gandhi the only staunch opposition. The difficulties of where to drawn the line between the two territories proved complicated and long lasting, with more than 25 years before East Pakistan became Bangladesh. Thousands of refugees were created amid the enormous population exchanges that took place. With more than 500,000 people killed along the way.

India and Pakistan continue to have a very volatile relationship mainly due to the disputed territories of Jammu & Kashmir which straddle both India and Pakistan.

India has had a President since 1950, The more recent ones are Dr Abdul Kalam who became President in July 2002 and led the development of India’s nuclear weapons programme. He was also known as the ‘People’s Presidemt’. In 2007 Pratibha Patil became India’s first female president and the current President is Mohammad Hamid Ansri.

With one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, India has certainly made giant strides over the past decade. However, vast sections of the country’s billion-plus population have seen little benefit from the economic boom, and the gap between classes remains treacherous. Indeed, the government’s ongoing challenge is to spread both the burden and bounty of India’s fiscal prosperity, though this task will remain insurmountable if India’s population continues to explode at the current rate.