India

We traveled to India and the city of Mumbai in the Spring of 2015. India is a country on the rise, but its bureaucracy is out of control which, along with its very large population will cause it some serious bumps along the way to develop nation status. Mumbai is an interesting city with a lot of amazing colonial British and Indian architecture. The problem is that much of these beautiful buildings are in disrepair and covered it a silt caused by air pollution. I would like to make my way back to India in the winter months in the future, to visit some other cities.


India has one of the worlds most storied histories. The country was inhabited by the early Indus people around 5 thousand years ago. The Indus people were wiped out by the Aryan tribes from the north over the next 500 years. In 300BCE most of the area was unified under the Maurya Dynasty, that remained strong for over 200 years. The Maurya Dynasty's most notable ruler was the great Asoka, who ruled from 269 to 232BCE. The Greeks under Alexander the Great concerned the area in 185BC, and after the death of Alexander became part of the Bactria Empire for a short period of time until the area was invaded by nomadic Kushans. In the 4th Century CE, the Gupta family united much of the area under the Gupta Empire. This time frame is known as India's Golden Age. The area was again invaded by nomads, this time the Huns in the 5th Century. By the end of the 600's the area became several small kingdoms, until the Turks conquered northern India and created the Delhi Sultanate. The next great empire, the Mughal Empire did not come along until the 1400's. Descendants from the Mongols, the Mughal's ruled until the British East India Company and other local tribes started eroding their empire in the mid 1700's. Over the next 150 years, the British would take control of area after area until they controlled the entire subcontinent. India became independent in 1948, thanks to the efforts of Mahatma Gandhi, but did not stay intact as Pakistan and Bangladesh broke away. Since independence, India has become a nuclear state and has fought 3 wars with neighboring Pakistan. Currently the country is struggling to became a fully industrialized state.    





The Port of Mumbai and Old Mumbai


Old Town Mumbai 2015


Mumbai Train Station area 2015


More Images of Mumbai 2015


Mumbai 2015