15 Nations Global Tour: India (Stop #1)

Profile manager: David Randall [send private message]

This sub-project is part of the larger 15 Nations Global Tour. Please visit the main project page for details on the goals and objectives of this project.

G2G: Click here to participate in our current discussion on the India G2G thread, or here for our general discussion on the 15 Nations Global Tour G2G thread.

Geography

The Republic of India is located in South Asia. It is the seventh largest country by area and the second most populous country in the world. Its largest city is Mumbai, while its largest population center is New Delhi, which is also the nation's capital.

Demographics

India has a population approaching 1.4 billion people. The National Census of India does not recognize racial or ethnic groups within India, although it does recognize numerous tribal groups and castes. India has no national language, although Hindi, with the largest number of speakers, is the official language of the government. English is used extensively in business and administration. Nearly 80% of Indians practice Hinduism, while just under 15% are Muslim. Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, and others make up the remaining 5%.

History

Modern humans arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa at least 55,000 years ago with settled life eventually evolving into what is now known as the Indus Valley Civilization. The long occupation of the region has made India second only to Africa in human genetic diversity.

Aryan tribes, speaking an archaic version of Sanskrit, arrived rom the northwest in about 1500 BCE. In the 8th century, Arab invaders established a Muslim stronghold in the west, and Turkish Muslims gained control in the north by 1200. The Mughal emperors ruled from 1526-1857.

The Portuguese established the first European trading posts in India in 1498, and were quickly followed by the Dutch and British. Eventually, operating as the East India Company, the British gained control of most of India and in 1828, the British parliament assumed political control of the region.

After World War II, India saw a rise in nationalism, led largely by Mahatma Gandhi and his advocacy for self-rule, nonviolence, and an end to caste discrimination. In 1945, Pakistan was split off from India, and India was declared a self-governing member of the British Commonwealth in 1947. India gained full independence from Britain when it became a democratic republic in 1950.

Resources

Click here for a list of resources relevant to Indian genealogical research:

Indian Resources Page

Notable Indians

In the below list, columns can be sorted by clicking on the arrow button in any category heading box. A "C" in the final column denotes a Notable who has been successfully connected to the Big Tree. "N/C" stands for Not Connected.

Notable	Born	Died	Claim to Fame	Photo	C
Sardar Patel	1875	1950	Independence Leader		N/C
Sorojini Naidu	1879	1949	Poet / Activist / Governor		Connected
Babasaheb Ambedkar	1891	1956	Father of the Indian Republic		N/C
Dhyan Chand	1905	1979	Field Hockey Player		N/C
R.K. Narayan	1906	2001	Writer		N/C
Dr. Homi Bhabha	1909	1966	Nuclear Scientist		Connected
Maqbool Husain	1915	2011	Artist		N/C
Dr. B.K.S. Iyengar	1918	2014	Yoga Master		N/C
Ravi Shankar	1920	2012	Musician		Connected
Satyjit Ray	1921	1992	Film Maker		N/C
Dilip Kumar	1922	2021	Actor		N/C
A. P. J. Abdul Kalam	1931	2015	Rocket Scientist / Statesman		N/C
Narendra Modi	1950	LIVING	Current Prime Minister of India		N/C
Droupadi Murmu	1958	LIVING	Current President of India		N/C
Dr. Kalpana Chawla	1962	2003	Astronaut		N/C

Additional Notables We Met on Our Tour... The 51 notables listed below were all discovered to be connected to at least one of our original fifteen notables listed above. Their profiles have been created, but many still need a lot of sprucing up.

Notable	Born	Died	Claim to Fame	Photo	C
Dwarkanath Ganguly	1844	1998	Women's rights activist		N/C
Aghorenath Chattopadhyay	1851	1915	First Indian to secure a Doctor of Science degree		Connected
Kadambini Ganguly	1861	1934	India's First female physician		N/C
Updendrakishore Ray	1863	1915	Religious and social reformer		N/C
Vithalbhai Patel	1873	1933	Political leader who founded the Swaraj Party		N/C
Aftabuddin Khan	1872	1933	Bengali musician, composer and lyricist		Connected
Allauddin Khan	1875	1972	Sarod player and music teachers		Connected
Chatto	1880	1937	Indian revolutionary		Connected
Ayet Ali Khan	1884	1967	Sitar and surbahār player and teacher		Connected
Sukumar Ray	1887	1923	Children's poet		N/C
Tirumalai Krishnamacharya	1888	1989	Father of modern yoga		N/C
Shukhalata Rao	1896	1969	Children's book author		N/C
Harindranath Chattopadhyay	1898	1990	Poet, dramatist, actor and musician		Connected
A.C.N. Nambiar	1896	1986	Freedom fighter and head of the Indian Legion		N/C
Padmaja Naidu	1900	1975	Freedom fighter and Governor of West Bengal		N/C
Uday Shankar	1900	1977	Dancer and choreographer		Connected
Suhasini Chattopadhyay	1902	1973	Freedom fighter and the first woman member of the Communist Party of India		Connected
Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay	1903	1988	Social reformer and freedom activist.		Connected
Maniben Patel	1903	1990	Independence activist and Parliament member		N/C
Dahyabhai Patel	1905	1973	Member of Parliament		N/C
Roop Singh	1908	1977	Field hockey player		N/C
V. Lakshminarayana	1911	1990	Professor of music		Connected
Bhaiyasaheb Ambedkar	1912	1977	Buddhist religious and political leader		N/C
Naseem Begun	1916	2002	India's first female superstar		N/C
Bijay Ray	1917	2015	Actress		N/C
Ramnad Krishnan	1918	1973	Vocalist in the Carnatic tradition		N/C
Amala Shankar	1919	2020	Dancer		Connected
Ali Akbar Khan	1922	2009	Hindustani classical musician		Connected
Nasir Khan	1924	1974	Actor		N/C
Begum Para	1926	2008	Bollywood glamor girl		N/C
Lakshmi Shankar	1926	2015	Hindustani vocalist		Connected
Ramnad Raghavan	1927	2009	Mridangam player		Connected
Kamala Laxman	1927	2015	Children's book author		N/C
Annapurna Devi	1927	2018	Surbahar (bass sitar) player		Connected
Bahadur Khan	1931	1989	Sarod player		Connected
Kumari Kamala	1934	LIVING	Bharatanatyam dancer and film actress		N/C
T. K. V. Desikachar	1938	2016	Yoga teacher		N/C
Shubho Shankar	1942	1992	Musician and film composer		Connected
Ananda Shankar	1942	1999	Musician who fused Indian classical music with Western rock.		Connected
Saira Banu	1944	LIVING	Actress		N/C
Geeta Iyengar	1944	2018	Yoga teacher and author		N/C
L. Subramaniam	1947	LIVING	Violinist		Connected
Ashok Kumar	1950	LIVING	Field hockey player and manager		N/C
Viji Subramaniam	1952	1995	Actress and choreographer		Connected
Sandir Ray	1953	LIVING	Film Director		N/C
Mamata Shankar	1955	LIVING	Actress and choreographer		Connected
Tanusree Shankar	1956	LIVING	Dancer and choreographer		Connected
Niharika Bhasin	1969	LIVING	Costume designer		N/C
Ayub Khan	1969	LIVING	Film and television actor		N/C
Arjun Bhasin	1970	LIVING	Costume designer	Image:Bhasin-4.jpg	N/C
Norah Jones	1979	LIVING	Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, pianist		Connected
Anoushka Shankar	1981	LIVING	Grammy-winning sitar player		Connected