Official Name: Bharat (Hindi); Republic of India (English).

Area: Asia

Size: 3,166,414 km²

Coastline: 7,000 km

Independence: from the UK 15 August 1947

Form of Govt.: Multiparty federal republic

Head of Govt.: Prime Minister

Capital: New Delhi

Largest City: Mumbai

Demographics (2005): 1,126,000,000.  329 /km²

Unlike the USA, UK, and Australian Censuses, the national Census of India does not recognize racial or ethnic groups within India

GDP per Capita (2005): 3,737 

Languages: Hindi, English

Geography: The mainland of India can be divided into four topographical regions. (1.) The northern mountains or Himalayan region which comprises three parallel ranges mixed with large plateaus and valleys. (2.) The Indo-Gangetic Plain which is formed by the basins of the Ganges, Indus and Brahmaputra Rivers. (3.) The desert region which is divided into the Great and Little Deserts. (4.) The southern region which includes a narrow coastal plain along the Arabian Sea and a broader one along the Bay of Bengal. The southern region is separated from the Indo-Gangetic Plain by a mass of mountain ranges and plateaus on the Indian or Deccan Peninsula, which are flanked by the Western and Eastern Ghats.

Climate: India has a tropical climate that is dominated by the Asiatic monsoons with four fairly distinct seasons which are common to all six or seven climatic regions. (1.) A relatively cool winter monsoon season. (2.) A hot and rainless transitional season. (3.) A rainy monsoon season and (4.) a humid season. Tropical hurricanes and cyclones are common between April to June and September to December. Average temperature ranges in New Delhi are from 7 to 21 degrees in January to 26 to 41 degrees in May.