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Most of the surface of India is dotted with farms, millions or even hundreds of millions strong, because two-thirds of its pop- ulation lives in rural areas and works in agriculture. India has the second-largest swath of arable land in the entire world, a full 50 percent of its entire land area, trailing only the United States. This vast land area allows India to grow food not only for its own population but also for export to the wider world. Because of the huge population, 12 percent of the total land in India is taken up by urban development. The history of India is tremendously long and complex, equal to the history of China or Europe in its scale and depth. The first civilizations appeared around the rivers flowing from the Hima- layas to the Indian Ocean some 5,000 years ago. They developed the languages, social structures, and religions that form the base of contemporary Indian society. Conquests by foreign powers further diversified Southern Asia, culminating in the British Raj of 1857,

A group of women work in a rice field.

Introduction

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