India

In the 13th Century, Marco Polo described India as “a land of wonders,” and his observation is no less true today. India is the world’s largest democracy, a nuclear power, and a rising economic giant-but also the world’s most ancient surviving civilization, with unbroken continuity stretching back into prehistory. It is a land of tremendous spirituality punctuated by terrible religious violence, of vast deserts and Himalayan peaks that disappear into the sky, of remote Mughal forts and jam-packed megacities, and of the world’s most glorious architectural splendors: the Taj Mahal, the Red Fort, and Luyten’s Delhi. An epicenter of trade and a land of extraordinary riches, India has played a prominent role in world history.