Southern Asia · IND

India

The story · 13 chapters

How it was drawn

Many kingdoms and a few great empires shared the subcontinent until Britain joined it under one rule. Partition in 1947 drew the borders of the Republic of India.

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Through the ages

Rivals in history

The kingdoms, empires and states India fought or stood against, from the first to today.

Seleucid Empire305 BC to 303 BC
Seleucus, Alexander's successor in the east, crosses the Indus to recover the Indian provinces. Chandragupta Maurya forces a treaty on him: Seleucus gives up the lands up to Arachosia and receives 500 war elephants.
Alchon Huns455 to 528
Huns from Central Asia attack the Gupta Empire. Skandagupta repels them around 455, but later the Hun kings Toramana and Mihirakula conquer much of the northwest, until Indian kings defeat Mihirakula in the 520s.
Umayyad Caliphate711 to 740
An Arab army under Muhammad bin Qasim conquers Sindh in 711 and 712. Further raids into Gujarat and Rajasthan are turned back in the 730s by Indian kings, among them the Gurjara-Pratiharas, who become the guardians of the northwest.
Ghaznavid Empire1000 to 1027
Mahmud of Ghazni leads some seventeen raids into northern India, plundering wealthy temple cities such as Mathura and, in 1025, Somnath in Gujarat. He annexes the Punjab, which becomes a base for later invaders.
Ghurid Dynasty1175 to 1206
Muhammad of Ghor invades from Afghanistan. Prithviraj Chauhan defeats him at Tarain in 1191, but loses there the next year. Ghurid generals take Delhi and the Ganges plain, and the Delhi Sultanate grows out of their conquest.
Mongol Empire1221 to 1306
Genghis Khan pursues an enemy prince to the Indus in 1221. Mongol armies from Central Asia then raid again and again, reaching the outskirts of Delhi in 1303, but the sultan Alauddin Khalji defeats them in several battles.
Timurid Empire1398 to 1399
Timur crosses the Indus, defeats the Tughlaq sultan's army and sacks Delhi in December 1398, killing much of its population and carrying off its craftsmen to Samarkand. The Delhi Sultanate never fully recovers.
Portuguese Empire1502 to 1961
The Portuguese fight the Zamorin of Calicut for the spice trade and seize Goa in 1510. They hold Goa, Daman and Diu for four and a half centuries, until the Indian army takes them in December 1961.
Afsharid Iran1739
Nader Shah of Persia defeats the Mughal army at Karnal in 1739, sacks Delhi and carries off the Peacock Throne and the Koh-i-Noor diamond. The raid shows how weak the Mughal Empire has become.
Durrani Empire1748 to 1767
Ahmad Shah Durrani invades northern India repeatedly, sacking Delhi in 1757. At the third battle of Panipat in 1761 he destroys the Maratha army, but he cannot hold the Punjab, which the Sikhs take over.
British Empire1757 to 1947
From Plassey in 1757, the East India Company defeats Bengal, Mysore, the Marathas and the Sikhs one by one. After the great rebellion of 1857 the Crown rules directly, until the independence movement and the Second World War lead Britain to leave in 1947.
PakistanSince 1947Still open
India and Pakistan fight wars in 1947, 1965 and 1971, and at Kargil in 1999, mostly over Kashmir, divided by the Line of Control. After a terrorist attack at Pahalgam in April 2025, the two exchange missile and drone strikes for four days in May.
ChinaSince 1959Still open
India and China dispute Aksai Chin in the west and Arunachal Pradesh in the east. China wins a short war in 1962. Along the Line of Actual Control, a clash in the Galwan valley in 2020 kills twenty Indian soldiers and at least four Chinese.

Today

India now

C. and extended into northwestern India. ; their merger with the earlier Dravidian inhabitants created the classical Indian culture. C. -- which reached its zenith under ASHOKA -- united much of South Asia. ) ushered in The Golden Age, which saw a flowering of Indian science, art, and culture. Islam spread across the subcontinent over a period of 700 years.

Capital: New Delhi
Government: federal parliamentary republic
Head of government: Narendra Modi
Head of state: Droupadi Murmu
Languages: English, Hindi
Area: 3,287,263 km²

Through time

Then and now

Population1.44 billion2023 · 346 million in 1950
Life expectancy72.0 years2023 · 41.2 years in 1950
GDP per person$7,7652022 · $987 in 1950
Living in cities36%2025 · 17% in 1950
Literacy78%2024 · 18% in 1950
Political regimeElectoral autocracy2025 · Closed autocracy in 1950
Military alliancesNone of these2024 · None of these in 1950
Military spending2.3% of GDP2025
War deaths0.0 per 100,0002025

Population: HYDE 3.3, Gapminder and UN WPP. GDP per capita: Maddison Project Database 2023. Urban share: UN WPP. Life expectancy: Riley, HMD, UN WPP. Literacy: OWID historical estimates, World Bank, UNESCO. Military spending: SIPRI. War deaths: UCDP. Political regime: V-Dem, Regimes of the World. All via Our World in Data (CC BY 4.0). Alliances and organization memberships: compiled by Atlas. Satellites in orbit: CelesTrak SATCAT. Modern borders, backcast.

Relations

Close partners and tensions

Close partners

United States
Japan
Australia
Russian Federation
France

Tensions

China
Pakistan

Summarised from World Bank and Wikipedia data, updated 23 October 2026.

Rivals in history

The kingdoms, empires and states India fought or stood against, from the first to today.

Seleucid Empire305 BC to 303 BC

Seleucus, Alexander's successor in the east, crosses the Indus to recover the Indian provinces. Chandragupta Maurya forces a treaty on him: Seleucus gives up the lands up to Arachosia and receives 500 war elephants.

Alchon Huns455 to 528

Huns from Central Asia attack the Gupta Empire. Skandagupta repels them around 455, but later the Hun kings Toramana and Mihirakula conquer much of the northwest, until Indian kings defeat Mihirakula in the 520s.

Umayyad Caliphate711 to 740

An Arab army under Muhammad bin Qasim conquers Sindh in 711 and 712. Further raids into Gujarat and Rajasthan are turned back in the 730s by Indian kings, among them the Gurjara-Pratiharas, who become the guardians of the northwest.

Ghaznavid Empire1000 to 1027

Mahmud of Ghazni leads some seventeen raids into northern India, plundering wealthy temple cities such as Mathura and, in 1025, Somnath in Gujarat. He annexes the Punjab, which becomes a base for later invaders.

Ghurid Dynasty1175 to 1206

Muhammad of Ghor invades from Afghanistan. Prithviraj Chauhan defeats him at Tarain in 1191, but loses there the next year. Ghurid generals take Delhi and the Ganges plain, and the Delhi Sultanate grows out of their conquest.

Mongol Empire1221 to 1306

Genghis Khan pursues an enemy prince to the Indus in 1221. Mongol armies from Central Asia then raid again and again, reaching the outskirts of Delhi in 1303, but the sultan Alauddin Khalji defeats them in several battles.

Timurid Empire1398 to 1399

Timur crosses the Indus, defeats the Tughlaq sultan's army and sacks Delhi in December 1398, killing much of its population and carrying off its craftsmen to Samarkand. The Delhi Sultanate never fully recovers.

Portuguese Empire1502 to 1961

The Portuguese fight the Zamorin of Calicut for the spice trade and seize Goa in 1510. They hold Goa, Daman and Diu for four and a half centuries, until the Indian army takes them in December 1961.

Afsharid Iran1739

Nader Shah of Persia defeats the Mughal army at Karnal in 1739, sacks Delhi and carries off the Peacock Throne and the Koh-i-Noor diamond. The raid shows how weak the Mughal Empire has become.

Durrani Empire1748 to 1767

Ahmad Shah Durrani invades northern India repeatedly, sacking Delhi in 1757. At the third battle of Panipat in 1761 he destroys the Maratha army, but he cannot hold the Punjab, which the Sikhs take over.

British Empire1757 to 1947

From Plassey in 1757, the East India Company defeats Bengal, Mysore, the Marathas and the Sikhs one by one. After the great rebellion of 1857 the Crown rules directly, until the independence movement and the Second World War lead Britain to leave in 1947.

PakistanSince 1947Still open

India and Pakistan fight wars in 1947, 1965 and 1971, and at Kargil in 1999, mostly over Kashmir, divided by the Line of Control. After a terrorist attack at Pahalgam in April 2025, the two exchange missile and drone strikes for four days in May.

ChinaSince 1959Still open

India and China dispute Aksai Chin in the west and Arunachal Pradesh in the east. China wins a short war in 1962. Along the Line of Actual Control, a clash in the Galwan valley in 2020 kills twenty Indian soldiers and at least four Chinese.

India now

Capital

New Delhi

Government

federal parliamentary republic

Head of government

Narendra Modi

Head of state

Droupadi Murmu

Languages

English, Hindi

Area

3,287,263 km²

Then and now

Population1.44 billion2023 · 346 million in 1950

Life expectancy72.0 years2023 · 41.2 years in 1950

GDP per person$7,7652022 · $987 in 1950

Living in cities36%2025 · 17% in 1950

Literacy78%2024 · 18% in 1950

Political regimeElectoral autocracy2025 · Closed autocracy in 1950

Military alliancesNone of these2024 · None of these in 1950

Military spending2.3% of GDP2025

War deaths0.0 per 100,0002025