The history of India and the Indian subcontinent goes back thousands of years, has seen the rise and decline of numerous civilizations, and the rule of various foreign powers and empires. In fact, to speak of a unitary “country of India” or “Indian state” is a thoroughly modern thing. Indian history, from ancient times and through modern days, has been influenced by various factors, including the size and geography of the Indian subcontinent, the characteristics and cultural idiosyncrasies of the people who have inhabited it at any given time, the rule over India of different empires and the influence of such traditional Indian concepts as the caste system, as well as the Hindu religion and the rise and spread of Islam.

Some of the great empires that have at times controlled various parts of India include the Persians, the Hellenic Empire of Alexander the Great (which subsequently led to the establishment of an Indo-Greek Kingdom), the brief union of the subcontinent under the Maurya Empire, various Muslim Empires and Sultanates, and most recently, the British Empire through its British East India Company. The dismantling of colonialism and European colonial empires throughout the world after the Second World War saw the rise of a strong independence movement in India, comprising both Hindus and Muslims. India gained its independence from the British Crown in 1947.

During much of the second half of the 20th century, the Indian economy was lackluster and burdened by socialist bureaucratic meddling, as it embraced socialist ideas of economic organization that were in vogue in the mid-20th century. Recently, however, the Indian economy has seen a tremendous rise, especially given both its large labor pool (the second-largest population in the world after China), its many talented individuals, and the influx of foreign capital and multinational corporations. Today, modern India is one of the largest democracies in the world, and it is gradually taking its place among the world’s great powers.