It has the Himalayan mountains to its North, the Arabian Sea to
its west, Bay of Bengal to its east and Indian Ocean to its south. Pakistan is on its west
border, Bangladesh and Mayanmar (Burma) to its east and Tibet and China to its north. Sri
Lanka is the teardrop-shaped island hanging off its southern tip. Its capital city is New
Delhi and its people are 72% Indo-Aryan, 25% Dravidian, 3% Mongoloid. Its main languages
are Hindi and English, plus 15 main languages and over 700 dialects. It consists of 82%
Hindus, 11% Muslims, 2% Christians, 2% Sikh, 0.7% Buddhist and 0.7% Jains.
India is a
country with probably the largest and most diverse mixture of races. All the five major
racial types - Australoid, Mongoloid, Europoid, Caucasian and Negroid - find
representation among the people of India, who are mainly a mixed race. The people of India
belong to diverse ethnic groups. At various periods of India's long history, successive
waves of settlers and invaders including the Aryans, Parthians, Greeks and Central Asians,
Jews and Zorastrians came into the country and merged with the local population. This
explains the variety of racial types, cultures and languages in India. |
