Contents Introduction Geography History Religions Famous Monuments Music in India

Introduction This booklet is all about the lives of people in India. It contains information about the Geography, History, Religions of India and much more. India is unique and the weather varies in the country with cold weather in the north and hot weather in the south. It is the largest democracy and has a population of over 1 billion people. It is in southern Asia and is the second most populous country in the world. The president is Pratibha Patil. Most people in India are Hindus and live in mountains, cities or slums. Curry is a popular cuisine in India. The country is known for its mountains in the Himalayas. The weather varies and the country receives large amounts of rainfall in the monsoon season. The Thar Desert receives 12 to 13mm of rainfall compared to Meghalaya which receives 1200cm of rainfall annually.

Geography India is in southern Asia and is the second most populous city in the world. The country has 29 states and has a population of over 1 billion. India has lots of different environments such as mountains, farms, cities and slums. The capital is New Delhi however the largest city is Mumbai. India lies between Pakistan, China and Nepal. To the east is the Bengal Bay, to the west is the Arabian Sea and to the south is the Indian Ocean. The Thar Desert is the seventh largest desert in the world and is home to species of cow, sheep, goats, camel and ox. The river Ganges is 1557 miles long and people consider it to be very holy. Hindus go there and have a bath or brush there teeth. The Deccan Plateau is the largest plateau in India and makes up the majority of the southern part of India. Northern India has a lot of mountains and has a very cold climate. Southern India has lots of big cities and has a very hot climate. The country is known for its mountains in the Himalayas. The weather varies and the country receives large amounts of rainfall in the monsoon season. The Thar Desert receives 12 to 13mm of rainfall compared to Meghalaya which receives 1200cm of rainfall annually.

History India used to be ruled by the United Kingdom for about 89 years and India was called British Raj. At that time India was one whole country comprised of what is now Pakistan, Bangladesh and Burma. During World War 1 and World War 2, the Indian people fought in the war with Britain and lost many men. In the first World War the Royal Pavilion in Brighton was built in to a military hospital for Indian Soldiers. Most British-Asians moved to England because India was ruled by Britain. It wasn’t only Indians who moved to Britain it was West Indies and Somali’s. But when most people came to Britain they didn’t have a nice welcome. A lot of people were discriminated and faced racism because of their skin colour and culture. For most people it was hard to get a house or an apartment/flat because the owner would not let the have the home because of racial reasons. But for some people, life was good and they had jobs and were very happy. At that time a lot of people were fighting to have independence in India and Mohandas Gandhi was a political who tried to gain independence for India. On August 15, 1947, India became an independent country with Jawaharlal Nehru as Prime Minister.

Religions Islam first came to India in the eighth century, and by the 11th century had strongly established itself in India as a major religion. In the fifth century, large parts of India were united under Ashoka. He also converted to Buddhism, and it is in his reign that Buddhism spread to other parts of Asia. In the 15 th century Guru Nanak founded the Sikh religion in the city of Punjab. Sikhism is big religion in India 80.5% of Indians are Hindus MUSLIM 13.4% of Indians are Muslims HINDU 2.3% of Indians are Christians BUDDHHIST 1.9% of Indians are Sikhs SIKH 1.8% of Indians are other religions CHRISTIAN JAIN

Famous Monuments Taj Mahal was build by emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal. Gateway of India Lotus Temple India Gate is the national monument of India Hawa Mahal

Interesting Facts India is the seventh largest country in the world. It has 17 major languages and 844 dialects Population is 1,205,073,612 The 7th largest country in the world It has 300,000 mosques It has never invaded any other country Chess was invented in India India is about 1/3 the size of the United States It is illegal to take Indian currency (rupees) out of India India leads the world with the most murders (32,719) 35% of India’s population lives below the poverty line The national fruit of India is the mango A widow is considered bad luck The Bengal tiger is India’s national animal India has the largest postal network in the world