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In the early 16th century, northern India, being then under mainly Muslim rulers,^[66] fell again to the superior mobility and firepower of a new generation of Central Asian warriors.^[67] The resulting Mughal Empire did not stamp out the local societies it came to rule, but rather balanced and pacified them through new administrative practices^[68][69] and diverse and inclusive ruling elites,^[70] leading to more systematic, centralised, and uniform rule.

Anatomically modern humans are thought to have arrived in South Asia 73-55,000 years back,^[21] though the earliest authenticated human remains date to only about 30,000 years ago.^[22] Nearly contemporaneous Mesolithic rock art sites have been found in many parts of the Indian subcontinent, including at the Bhimbetka rock shelters in Madhya Pradesh.^[23]

India (ⁱ/ˈɪndiə/), officially the Republic of India (Bharat Ganrajya),^[13][c] is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the south-west, and the Bay of Bengal on the south-east, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west;^[d] China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north-east;