of adapting to the globalized world community and might well be considered a work
in process.^86Indian History
Many aspects of your everyday life result from events that started in India thousands
of years ago. Each time you pull on your cotton jeans, eat chicken, or use the decimal
system, you are enjoying the benefits of developments that arose in ancient India.^87
Modern India is no less influential in your life. No doubt you have already had expe-
rience talking with a company’s representative in India while getting help with an
information technology (IT) problem or making an airline or hotel reservation for
spring break. And while you sleep, someone in Mumbai, Kolkata, or Noida may be
processing your credit card account, developing a new website for use next semester
when you register for classes, or reviewing the legal details of the contract for your
new job. India’s large population of engineers and English speakers provides U.S.
companies with IT and business-processing services across a broad range of industries,
including animation, computer-assisted design, software development, insurance claim
processing, and, of course, customer care call centers.^88 This background should pro-
vide convincing illustrations as to why an appreciation of India’s history and culture is
important today. But in addition to these examples, there are many other reasons for
learning about India.
Immigrants from India and their descendants represent a vital, productive segment
of the U.S. population. Over 3 million Indian Americans currently live in the United
States, constituting the third-largest Asian American ethnic group. Approximately
70 percent of Indian Americans hold at least a bachelor’s degree, well above the
national average of 28 percent. While these educated professionals love their adopted
nation, they also maintain a strong attachment to India and their heritage.^89 Indian
Americans are also becoming active in U.S. politics. In 2015 the governors of both
Louisiana and South Carolina were first-generation Indian Americans, and California
returned an Indian American to the House of Representatives for a second term in- As more Indian Americans become part of the diversity of the United States,
it behooves us to have an awareness of the origins of their culture.
The most striking and noticeable characteristic of the Republic of India is the
nation’s rich diversity of geography, peoples, cultures, languages, and history. The
land area of India, the largest nation on the Indian subcontinent, begins in the
towering Himalayan Mountains in the north and extends southward for almost two
thousand miles, jutting into the Indian Ocean. The diverse terrain and climatic
zones include mountain ranges, plateaus, alluvial plains, tropical forests, and deserts.
The more than 1.2 billion people who inhabit the world’s largest democracy consist
of over two thousand ethnic groups and tribes, speak eighteen official languages, and
practice a multiplicity of religions, including Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism,
Buddhism, Jainism, Parsi, and a number of other belief traditions.^90
The basis of India’s contemporary multicultural society is its long and varied histor-
ical legacy, which grew out of influences from South and Northeast Asia, Central
Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. The archaeological record indicates that hunter-
gatherers were active on the subcontinent as early as 2 million years ago. By approxi-
mately 2600 BCE, these early groups had evolved into urban dwellers, living in
houses along grid-patterned streets with drainage systems. Archaeological data also
suggest that they engaged in long-distance trade with Middle Eastern societies.
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