India is the largest country in the Indian Subcontinent and shares borders with Pakistan to the west, China and Nepal to the north, Bhutan to the north-east, and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east. Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Indonesia lie to the south-east in the Indian Ocean. It is the seventh largest country in the world by area and, with over a billion people, is second only to China in population. It's an extremely diverse country, with vast differences in geography, climate, culture, language and ethnicity across its expanse, and prides itself on being the largest democracy on Earth.

Regions

India is administratively divided into 28 states and 7 union territories. The states are broadly demarcated on linguistic lines. They vary in size; the larger ones are bigger and more diverse than some countries of Europe. The union territories are smaller than the states—sometimes they are just one city—and they have much less autonomy.

Cities

Below is a selection of nine of India's most notable cities. Other cities can be found under their specific regions.

• Delhi — the capital of India for a thousand years and the heart of Northern India.
• Bangalore (now Bengaluru) — The garden city, once the sleepy home of pensioners now transformed into the city of pubs, technology and companies.
• Chennai (formerly Madras) — main port in Southern India, cradle of Carnatic Music and Bharatanatyam, home of the famous Marina beach, Automobile Capital of India and a fast emerging IT hub.
• Jaipur — the Pink City is a major exhibit of the Hindu Rajput culture of medeival Northern India.
• Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) — the cultural capital of India, Kolkata is home to numerous colonial buildings. It is known as The City of Joy.
• Mumbai (formerly Bombay) — the financial capital of India, "Bollywood" (Indian Film Industry) hub.
• Shimla — the former summer capital of British India located in the Himalayan foothills with a large legacy of Victorian architecture.
• Thiruvananthapuram (formerly Trivandrum) — capital of Kerala and gateway to the sandy beaches and backwaters of south west India.
• Varanasi — considered the most sacred Hindu city, located on the banks of the Ganges, one of the oldest continually inhabited cities of the world.

Understand

Befitting her size and population, India's culture and heritage are a rich amalgam of the past and the present: From the civilizations, fascinating religions, variety of languages (more than 200!) and monuments that have been present for thousands of years to the modern technology, economy, and media that arises as she opens up to a globalised world, India will never cease to awe and fascinate the visitor.