document_title: Reign of Terror

question_text: who ruled france during the reign of terror

text: Reign of Terror

text: Barère and Robespierre glorify "terror"[edit]

text: There was a sense of emergency among leading politicians in France in the summer of 1793 between the widespread civil war and counter-revolution.  Bertrand Barère exclaimed on 5 September 1793 in the Convention: "Let's make terror the order of the day!"[5][6] They were determined to avoid street violence such as the September Massacres of 1792 by taking violence into their own hands as an instrument of government.[4]

text: Robespierre in February 1794 in a speech explained the necessity of terror:

text: If the basis of popular government in peacetime is virtue, the basis of popular government during a revolution is both virtue and terror; virtue, without which terror is baneful; terror, without which virtue is powerless. Terror is nothing more than speedy, severe and inflexible justice; it is thus an emanation of virtue; it is less a principle in itself, than a consequence of the general principle of democracy, applied to the most pressing needs of the patrie [homeland, fatherland].[7][4]

text: Some historians argue that such terror was a necessary reaction to the circumstances.[8] Others suggest there were additional causes, including ideological[9] and emotional.[10]

text: Influences on the Terror[edit]

text: Enlightenment Thought[edit]

text: Enlightenment thought emphasized the importance of rational thinking and began challenging legal and moral foundations of society, providing the leaders of the Terror with new ideas about the role and structure of government.[11] Rousseau's Social Contract argued that each person was born with rights, and they would come together to form a government that would then protect those rights. Under the social contract, the government was required to act for the general will, which represented the interests of everyone rather than a few factions.[12] Drawing from the idea of a general will, Robespierre felt that the French Revolution could result in a Republic built for the general will but only once those who fought this ideal were expelled.[13] [14] Those who resisted the government were deemed "tyrants" fighting against the virtue and honor of the general will. The leaders felt their ideal version of government was threatened from the inside and outside of France, and terror was the only way to preserve the dignity of the Republic created from French Revolution.[15]

text: Robespierre's ideology was not strictly derived from Rousseau. The writings of another Enlightenment thinker of the time, Baron de Montesquieu, greatly influenced Robespierre. One of Montesquieu’s writings, The Spirit of the Laws,  defines a core principle of a democratic government: virtue. He describes it as “the love of laws and of our country.”[16]  In Robespierre’s speech to the National Convention on February 5, 1794, On Political Morality, he talks about virtue being the “fundamental principle of popular or democratic government."[17]  This was, in fact, the same virtue defined by Montesquieu almost 50 years earlier. Robespierre believed that the virtue needed for any democratic government was extremely lacking in the French people. As a result, he decided to weed out those he believed could never possess this virtue. The result was a continual push towards Terror. The Convention used this as justification for the course of action to “crush the enemies of the revolution, ... let the laws be executed, … and let liberty be saved.”[18]

text: These members of the Enlightenment movement greatly influenced revolutionary leaders; however, cautions from other Enlightenment thinkers were blatantly ignored.   Voltaire’s warnings were often overlooked, though some of his ideas were used for justification of the Revolution and the start of the Terror. He protested against Catholic Dogmas and the ways of Christianity stating, “of all religions, the Christian should of course inspire the most toleration, but till now the Christian's have been the most intolerant of all men.”[19] These criticisms were often used by Robespierre and other leaders as justification for their anti-religious reforms. Voltaire also laid down some warnings. In his Philosophical Dictionary, he states, “we are all steeped in weakness and error; let us forgive each other our follies; that is the first law of nature” and “every individual who persecutes a man, his brother, because he is not of his opinion, is a monster."[20] The importance of forgiveness and understanding the failings of the human conditions were obviously lost on Robespierre and other leaders as they pursued Terror.

text: Threats of Foreign Invasion[edit]

text: After the beginning of the French Revolution, the surrounding monarchies did not show great hostility towards the rebellion.[21] Though mostly ignored, Louis XVI was later able to find support in Leopold II of Austria (Marie Antionette’s brother) and Frederick William II of Prussia. On August 27, 1791, these foreign leaders made the Pillnitz Declaration saying they would restore the French monarch if other European rulers joined.  In response to what they viewed to be the meddling of foreign powers, France declared war on April 20, 1792.[22] However, at this point, the war was only Prussia and Austria against France. France began this war with a large series of defeats which set a precedent of fear of invasion in the people that would last throughout the war. Massive reforms of military institutions, while very effective in the long run, presented the initial problems of inexperienced forces and leaders of questionable political loyalty.[23] In the time it took for officers of merit to use their new freedoms to climb the chain of command, France suffered. Many of the early battles were definitive losses for the French.[24] There was the constant threat of the Austro-Prussian forces which were advancing easily toward the capital, threatening to destroy Paris if the monarch was harmed.[25] This series of defeats, coupled with militant uprisings and protests within the borders of France pushed the government to resort to drastic measures to ensure the loyalty of every citizen to not only France but more importantly to the Revolution.

text: While this series of losses was eventually broken, the reality of what might have happened if they persisted hung over France. The tide would not turn from them until September of 1792 when the French won a critical victory at Valmy preventing the Austro-Prussian invasion.[26] While the French military had stabilized and was producing victories by the time the Reign of Terror officially began, the pressure to succeed in this international struggle acted as justification for the government to pursue its tyrannical actions. It was not until after the execution of Louis XVI and the annexation of the Rhineland that the other monarchies began to feel threatened enough to form the First Coalition.[27] The Coalition, consisting of Russia, Austria, Prussia, Spain, Holland, and Sardinia, began attacking France from all directions besieging and capturing ports and retaking ground lost to France.[28] With so many similarities to the first days of the Revolutionary Wars, the French government with threats on all sides, unification of the country became a top priority.[29] As the war continued and the Reign of Terror began, leaders saw a correlation between using terror and achieving victory. Well phrased by Albert Soboul, “terror, at first an improvised response to defeat, once organized became an instrument of victory.”[30] The threat of defeat and foreign invasion may have helped spur the origins of the terror, but the timely success of the Terror with French victories added justification to its growth and continuation.

text: Popular Pressure[edit]

text: During the Reign of Terror, the sans-culottes and the Hébertists put pressure on the National Convention delegates and contributed to the overall instability of France. The National Convention was bitterly split between the Montagnards and the Girondins. The Girondins were more conservative leaders of the National Convention, while the Montagnards supported radical violence and pressures of the lower classes.[31] Once the Montagnards gained control of the National Convention, they began demanding radical measures. Moreover, the sans-culottes, the scrappy, urban workers of France, agitated leaders to inflict punishments on those who opposed the interests of the poor. The sans-culottes’ violent demonstrations pushing their demands, created constant pressure for the Montagnards to enact reform.[32] The sans-culottes fed the frenzy of instability and chaos by utilizing popular pressure during the Revolution. For example, the sans-culottes sent letters and petitions to the Committee of Public Safety urging them to protect their interests and rights with measures such as taxation of foodstuffs that favored workers over the rich. They advocated for arrests of those deemed to oppose reforms against those with privilege, and the more militant members would advocate pillage in order to achieve the desired equality.[33] The resulting instability caused problems that made forming the new Republic and achieving full political support even more critical.

text: Religious Upheaval[edit]

text: The Reign of Terror was characterized by a dramatic rejection of long-held religious authority, its hierarchical structure, and the corrupt and intolerant influence of the aristocracy and clergy. Religious elements that long stood as symbols of stability for the French people, were replaced by reason and scientific thought.[34][35] The radical revolutionaries and their supporters desired a cultural revolution that would rid the French state of all Christian influence.[36] This process began with the fall of the monarchy, an event that effectively defrocked the State of its sanctification by the clergy via the doctrine of Divine Right and ushered in an era of reason.[37]

text: Many long-held rights and powers were stripped from the Church and given to the State. In 1789, church lands were expropriated and priests killed and forced to leave France.[38] A Festival of Reason was held in the Notre Dame Cathedral, which was renamed "The Temple of Reason", and the old traditional calendar was replaced with a new revolutionary one.[39] The leaders of the Terror tried to address the call for these radical, revolutionary aspirations, while at the same time trying to maintain tight control on the de-Christianization movement that was threatening to the clear majority of the still devoted Catholic population of France. The tension sparked by these conflicting objectives laid a foundation for the "justified" use of terror to achieve revolutionary ideals and rid France of the religiosity that revolutionaries believed was standing in the way.

text: Major events during the Terror[edit]

text: This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text: On 10 March 1793 the National Convention created the Revolutionary Tribunal. Among those charged by the tribunal, about a half were acquitted (though the number dropped to about a quarter after the enactment of the Law of 22 Prairial). In March rebellion broke out in the Vendée in response to mass conscription, which developed into a civil war that lasted until after the Terror.

text: On 6 April the Committee of Public Safety was created, which gradually became the de facto war-time government.[40]

text: On 2 June, the Parisian sans-culottes surrounded the National Convention, calling for administrative and political purges, a low fixed price for bread, and a limitation of the electoral franchise to sans-culottes alone. With the backing of the national guard, they persuaded the convention to arrest 29 Girondist leaders.[41] In reaction to the imprisonment of the Girondin deputies, some thirteen departments started the Federalist revolts against the National Convention in Paris, which were ultimately crushed.

text: On 24 June, the convention adopted the first republican constitution of France, the French Constitution of 1793. It was ratified by public referendum, but never put into force.

text: On 13 July the assassination of Jean-Paul Marat – a Jacobin leader and journalist – resulted in a further increase in Jacobin political influence. Georges Danton, the leader of the August 1792 uprising against the king, was removed from the committee. On July 27, 1793, Robespierre became part of the Committee of Public Safety.[42]

text: On 23 August, the National Convention decreed the levée en masse, "The young men shall fight; the married man shall forge arms and transport provisions; the women shall make tents and clothes and shall serve in the hospitals; the children shall turn all lint into linen; the old men shall betake themselves to the public square in order to arouse the courage of the warriors and preach hatred of kings and the unity of the Republic."

text: On 9 September, the convention established paramilitary forces, the "revolutionary armies", to force farmers to surrender grain demanded by the government. On 17 September, the Law of Suspects was passed, which authorized the imprisonment of vaguely defined "suspects". This created a mass overflow in the prison systems. On 29 September, the convention extended price fixing from grain and bread to other essential goods, and also fixed wages.

text: On 10 October, the Convention decreed that "the provisional government shall be revolutionary until peace." On 24 October, the French Republican Calendar was enacted. The trial of the Girondins started on the same day and they were executed on 31 October.

text: Anti-clerical sentiments increased during 1793 and a campaign of dechristianization occurred. On 10 November (20 Brumaire Year II of the French Republican Calendar), the Hébertists organized a Festival of Reason.

text: On 14 Frimaire (5 December 1793) was passed the Law of Frimaire, which gave the central government more control over the actions of the representatives on mission.

text: On 16 Pluviôse (4 February 1794), the National Convention decreed that slavery be abolished in all of France and French colonies.

text: On 8 and 13 Ventôse (26 February and 3 March), Saint-Just proposed decrees to confiscate the property of exiles and opponents of the revolution, known as the Ventôse Decrees.

text: By the end of 1793, two major factions had emerged, both threatening the Revolutionary Government: the Hébertists, who called for an intensification of the Terror and threatened insurrection, and the Dantonists, led by Georges Danton, who demanded moderation and clemency. The Committee of Public Safety took actions against both. The major Hébertists were tried before the Revolutionary Tribunal and executed on 24 March. The Dantonists were arrested on 30 March, tried on 3 to 5 April and executed on 5 April.

text: On 20 Prairial (8 June) was celebrated across the country the Festival of the Supreme Being, which was part of the Cult of the Supreme Being, a deist national religion. On 22 Prairial (10 June), the National Convention passed a law proposed by Georges Couthon, known as the Law of 22 Prairial, which simplified the judicial process and greatly accelerated the work of the Revolutionary Tribunal. With the enactment of the law, the number of executions greatly increased, and the period from this time to the Thermidorian Reaction became known as "The Grand Terror".

text: On 8 Messidor (26 June), the French army won the Battle of Fleurus, which marked a turning point in France's military campaign and undermined the necessity of wartime measures and the legitimacy of the Revolutionary Government.

text: Thermidorian Reaction[edit]

text:
The fall of Robespierre was brought about by a combination of those who wanted more power for the Committee of Public Safety (and a more radical policy than he was willing to allow) and the moderates who completely opposed the revolutionary government. They had, between them, made the Law of 22 Prairial one of the charges against him, so that, after his fall, to advocate terror would be seen as adopting the policy of a convicted enemy of the republic, putting the advocate's own head at risk. Between his arrest and his execution, Robespierre may have tried to commit suicide by shooting himself, although the bullet wound he sustained, whatever its origin, only shattered his jaw. Alternatively, he may have been shot by the gendarme Merda. The great confusion that arose during the storming of the municipal Hall of Paris, where Robespierre and his friends had found refuge, makes it impossible to be sure of the wound's origin.
In any case, Robespierre was guillotined the next day.[43]

text: The reign of the standing Committee of Public Safety was ended. New members were appointed the day after Robespierre's execution, and limits on terms of office were fixed (a quarter of the committee retired every three months). The Committee's powers were gradually eroded.


document_title: List of national anthem performers at the Super Bowl

question_text: who is performing national anthem at super bowl

root

text: Performances[edit]

text:
No.
Year
Venue
Performer(s)[1]

I
1967
Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, California
The Pride of Arizona, Michigan Marching Band, and UCLA choir

II
1968
Orange Bowl, Miami
GSU Tiger Marching Band

III
1969
Lloyd Geisler of the Washington National Symphony Orchestra[2]
An NFL.com reference ([1]) states that Anita Bryant performed the anthem, but NBC's broadcast of game, available from the Paley Center for Media's collection, shows that Geisler performed it.

IV
1970
Tulane Stadium, New Orleans
Al Hirt

V
1971
Orange Bowl, Miami
Tommy Loy (trumpet)

VI
1972
Tulane Stadium, New Orleans
U.S. Air Force Academy Chorale

VII
1973
Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Little Angels (children's choir) of Chicago's Holy Angels Church

VIII
1974
Rice Stadium, Houston, Texas
Charley Pride

IX
1975
Tulane Stadium, New Orleans
GSU Tiger Marching Band (2)

X
1976
Orange Bowl, Miami
Tom Sullivan

XI
1977
Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California
None (Vikki Carr sang "America the Beautiful")

XII
1978
Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans
Phyllis Kelly of Northeast Louisiana University

XIII
1979
Orange Bowl, Miami
The Colgate Thirteen

XIV
1980
Rose Bowl, Pasadena
Cheryl Ladd

XV
1981
Superdome, New Orleans
Helen O'Connell

XVI
1982
Pontiac Silverdome, Pontiac, Michigan
Diana Ross

XVII
1983
Rose Bowl, Pasadena
Leslie Easterbrook

XVIII
1984
Tampa Stadium, Tampa, Florida
Barry Manilow

XIX
1985
Stanford Stadium, Stanford, California
San Francisco Boys Chorus, San Francisco Girls Chorus, Piedmont Children's Chorus, and San Francisco Children's Chorus

XX
1986
Superdome, New Orleans
Wynton Marsalis (trumpet)

XXI
1987
Rose Bowl, Pasadena
Neil Diamond

XXII
1988
Jack Murphy Stadium, San Diego
Herb Alpert (trumpet)

XXIII
1989
Joe Robbie Stadium, Miami
Billy Joel

XXIV
1990
Superdome, New Orleans
Aaron Neville

XXV
1991
Tampa Stadium, Tampa
Whitney Houston with The Florida Orchestra directed by Jahja Ling

XXVI
1992
Metrodome, Minneapolis
Harry Connick, Jr.
ASL (American Sign Language): Lori Hilary

XXVII
1993
Rose Bowl, Pasadena
Garth Brooks
ASL: Marlee Matlin

XXVIII
1994
Georgia Dome, Atlanta
Natalie Cole
ASL: Courtney Keel Foley

XXIX
1995
Joe Robbie Stadium, Miami
Kathie Lee Gifford
ASL: Heather Whitestone

XXX
1996
Sun Devil Stadium, Tempe, Arizona
Vanessa L. Williams
ASL: Mary Kim Titla

XXXI
1997
Superdome, New Orleans
Luther Vandross
ASL: Erika Rachael Schwarz

XXXII
1998
Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego
Jewel
ASL: Phyllis Frelich

XXXIII
1999
Pro Player Stadium, Miami
Cher
ASL: Speaking Hands

XXXIV
2000
Georgia Dome, Atlanta
Faith Hill
ASL: Briarlake Elementary School Signing Choir

XXXV
2001
Raymond James Stadium, Tampa
Backstreet Boys
AASL: Tom Cooney

XXXVI
2002
Superdome, New Orleans
Mariah Carey
ASL: Joe Narcisse

XXXVII
2003
Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego
Dixie Chicks
ASL: Janet Maxwell

XXXVIII
2004
Reliant Stadium, Houston
Beyoncé
ASL: Suzanna Christy

XXXIX
2005
Alltel Stadium, Jacksonville, Florida
Combined choirs of the U.S. Military Academy, the U.S. Naval Academy, the U.S. Air Force Academy (2), and the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, and the U.S. Army Herald Trumpets
ASL: Wesley Tallent

XL
2006
Ford Field, Detroit
Aaron Neville (2) and Aretha Franklin,
Dr. John (piano accompaniment)
ASL: Angela LaGuardia

XLI
2007
Dolphin Stadium, Miami Gardens, Florida
Billy Joel (2)
ASL: Marlee Matlin (2)

XLII
2008
University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, Arizona
Jordin Sparks
ASL: A Dreamer[3]

XLIII
2009
Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, Florida
Jennifer Hudson
ASL: Kristen Santos

XLIV
2010
Sun Life Stadium, Miami Gardens
Carrie Underwood
ASL: Kinesha Battles

XLV
2011
Cowboys Stadium, Arlington, Texas
Christina Aguilera
ASL: Candice Villesca[4]

XLVI
2012
Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis
Kelly Clarkson
ASL: Rachel Mazique[5]

XLVII
2013
Mercedes-Benz Superdome, New Orleans
Alicia Keys[6]
ASL: John Maucere[7]

XLVIII
2014
MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey
Renée Fleming
ASL: Amber Zion

XLIX
2015
University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, Arizona[8]
Idina Menzel
ASL: Treshelle Edmond[9]

50
2016
Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara, California
Lady Gaga
ASL: Marlee Matlin (3)[10]

LI
2017
NRG Stadium, Houston, Texas
Luke Bryan
ASL: Kriston Lee Pumphery[11].

LII
2018
U.S. Bank Stadium, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Pink
ASL: Alexandria Wailes[12].

tag: table

text: Multiple and hometown performances[edit]

text: Acts that have performed three times:

tag: p

text: Marlee Matlin (ASL), (XXVII, XLI, and 50)

tag: ul

text: Acts that have performed two times:

text:
GSU Tiger Marching Band (II and IX)
Billy Joel (XXIII and XLI)
Aaron Neville (XXIV and XL)
U.S. Air Force Academy Chorale[13] (VI and XXXIX)

text: Singers that performed in or near their hometown metropolitan area:

text:
Beyoncé (XXXVIII, Houston)
Aretha Franklin (XL, Detroit)
Al Hirt (IV, New Orleans)
Aaron Neville (XXIV & XL, New Orleans)
Diana Ross (XVI, Detroit)
Jordin Sparks (XLII, Phoenix)

text: Notable performances[edit]

text: The performance by Whitney Houston at Super Bowl XXV in 1991, during the Gulf War, had been for many years regarded as one of the best renditions ever.[14][15][16][17][18][19] It was released as a single a few weeks later, appeared on the album Whitney: The Greatest Hits, and was re-released as a single in 2001 shortly after the September 11 attacks.

text: The 1992 performance marked the first time American Sign Language was used alongside the lead singer.

text: Faith Hill performed the anthem at Super Bowl XXXIV in 2000.[20] It became popular in country radio. Following the September 11 attacks, her version entered the country singles chart at number 35, despite not being released as an official single, and reentered the same chart at number 49 in July 2002.[citation needed]

text: At Super Bowl XLVIII in 2014, in an emotional and groundbreaking performance, soprano Renée Fleming became the first opera singer to perform the national anthem,[21] scoring the highest ratings for a Fox Network program in its history, and the second-highest ratings for any television program in history.

text: Controversies[edit]

text: Just days after Super Bowl XXV, a report surfaced that Whitney Houston lip synced her performance. It was confirmed that she was actually singing into a dead microphone, but the performance heard in the stadium and on television was prerecorded.[22][14][15]

text: Since 1993, the NFL has required performers to supply a backup track.[14] This came after Garth Brooks walked out of the stadium prior to his XXVII performance. Only 45 minutes before kickoff, he refused to take the stage, due to a dispute with NBC. Brooks requested that the network premiere his new music video "We Shall Be Free" during the pregame. The network chose not to air the video, due to content some felt was disturbing imagery. Brooks had also refused to pre-record the anthem, which meant the league had nothing to play if he left. Television producers spotted Jon Bon Jovi in the grandstands, and were prepared to use him as a replacement. After last-minute negotiations, NBC agreed to air a clip of the video during the broadcast of the game,[23] and Brooks was coaxed back into the stadium and sang.[19]

text: Following the "wardrobe malfunction" controversy during Super Bowl XXXVIII in 2004, all scheduled performers for Super Bowl XXXIX were chosen under heavy scrutiny.[24] Game organizers decided not to use a popular music vocalist.[25] The combined choirs of the U.S. Military Academy, the Naval Academy, Air Force Academy, Coast Guard Academy, and the U.S. Army Herald Trumpets were invited to perform. This was the first time since the second inauguration of President Richard Nixon in 1973 that all four service academies sang together.[13][26]

text: Two days after Super Bowl XLIII, it was revealed that Jennifer Hudson also had lip synced.[14]

text: At the beginning of Super Bowl XLV, Christina Aguilera sang the lyrics incorrectly. Instead of singing "O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming", the pop star sang "What so proudly we watched at the twilight's last gleaming".[27][28] According to the New York Times, she also changed "gleaming" to "reaming".[29]

text: Other patriotic performances[edit]

text: The following Super Bowls featured other patriotic performances besides the national anthem. Since 2009, "America the Beautiful" is sung before the national anthem.[30]

text:
1969: Apollo 8 crew
1970: Apollo astronauts
1973: Apollo 17 crew

text:
1977: Vikki Carr (in place of the national anthem)
2001: Ray Charles
2002: Mary J. Blige, Marc Anthony and the Boston Pops Orchestra
2005: Alicia Keys and a tribute video to the recently deceased Ray Charles
2009: Faith Hill
2010: Queen Latifah
2011: Lea Michele
2012: Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert
2013: Jennifer Hudson with the Sandy Hook Elementary School Chorus[31][32]
2014: Queen Latifah with the New Jersey Youth Chorus
2015: John Legend [9]
2016: U.S. Armed Forces Chorus [33]
2017: Phillipa Soo, Renee Elise Goldsberry and Jasmine Cephas Jones.[34]
2018: Leslie Odom Jr..[35].

text: 2003: Céline Dion


document_title: India

question_text: what is the origin of the name india

question_tokens: what is the origin of the name india

text: India

text: Etymology

text: The name India is derived from Indus, which originates from the Old Persian word Hindu.[19] The latter term stems from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, which was the historical local appellation for the Indus River.[20] The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi (Ἰνδοί), which translates as "The people of the Indus".[21]

text: The geographical term Bharat (Bhārat, pronounced [ˈbʱaːrət̪] ( listen)), which is recognised by the Constitution of India as an official name for the country,[22] is used by many Indian languages in its variations. It is a modernisation of the historical name Bharatavarsha, which traditionally referred to the Indian subcontinent and gained increasing currency from the mid-19th century as a native name for India.[23][24] Scholars believe it to be named after the Vedic tribe of Bhāratas in the second millennium BCE.[25] It is also traditionally associated with the rule of the legendary emperor Bharata.[26] Gaṇarājya (literally, people's State) is the Sanskrit/Hindi term for "republic" dating back to the ancient times.[27][28][29]

text: Hindustan ([ɦɪnd̪ʊˈst̪aːn] ( listen)) is a Persian name for India dating back to the 3rd century BCE. It was introduced into India by the Mughals and widely used since then. Its meaning varied, referring to a region that encompassed northern India and Pakistan or India in its entirety.[23][24][30] Currently, the name may refer to either the northern part of India or the entire country.[30]

text: History

text: Ancient India

text: The earliest authenticated human remains in South Asia date to about 30,000 years ago.[31] 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.[32] Around 7000 BCE, the first known Neolithic settlements appeared on the subcontinent in Mehrgarh and other sites in western Pakistan.[33] These gradually developed into the Indus Valley Civilisation,[34] the first urban culture in South Asia;[35] it flourished during 2500–1900 BCE in Pakistan and western India.[36] Centred around cities such as Mohenjo-daro, Harappa, Dholavira, and Kalibangan, and relying on varied forms of subsistence, the civilisation engaged robustly in crafts production and wide-ranging trade.[35]

text: During the period 2000–500 BCE, in terms of culture, many regions of the subcontinent transitioned from the Chalcolithic to the Iron Age.[37] The Vedas, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism,[38] were composed during this period,[39] and historians have analysed these to posit a Vedic culture in the Punjab region and the upper Gangetic Plain.[37] Most historians also consider this period to have encompassed several waves of Indo-Aryan migration into the subcontinent from the north-west.[38] The caste system, which created a hierarchy of priests, warriors, and free peasants, but which excluded indigenous peoples by labeling their occupations impure, arose during this period.[40] On the Deccan Plateau, archaeological evidence from this period suggests the existence of a chiefdom stage of political organisation.[37] In South India, a progression to sedentary life is indicated by the large number of megalithic monuments dating from this period,[41] as well as by nearby traces of agriculture, irrigation tanks, and craft traditions.[41]

text: In the late Vedic period, around the 6th century BCE, the small states and chiefdoms of the Ganges Plain and the north-western regions had consolidated into 16 major oligarchies and monarchies that were known as the mahajanapadas.[42][43] The emerging urbanisation gave rise to non-Vedic religious movements, two of which became independent religions. Jainism came into prominence during the life of its exemplar, Mahavira.[44] Buddhism, based on the teachings of Gautama Buddha attracted followers from all social classes excepting the middle class; chronicling the life of the Buddha was central to the beginnings of recorded history in India.[45][46][47] In an age of increasing urban wealth, both religions held up renunciation as an ideal,[48] and both established long-lasting monastic traditions. Politically, by the 3rd century BCE, the kingdom of Magadha had annexed or reduced other states to emerge as the Mauryan Empire.[49] The empire was once thought to have controlled most of the subcontinent excepting the far south, but its core regions are now thought to have been separated by large autonomous areas.[50][51] The Mauryan kings are known as much for their empire-building and determined management of public life as for Ashoka's renunciation of militarism and far-flung advocacy of the Buddhist dhamma.[52][53]

text: The Sangam literature of the Tamil language reveals that, between 200 BCE and 200 CE, the southern peninsula was being ruled by the Cheras, the Cholas, and the Pandyas, dynasties that traded extensively with the Roman Empire and with West and South-East Asia.[54][55] In North India, Hinduism asserted patriarchal control within the family, leading to increased subordination of women.[56][49] By the 4th and 5th centuries, the Gupta Empire had created in the greater Ganges Plain a complex system of administration and taxation that became a model for later Indian kingdoms.[57][58] Under the Guptas, a renewed Hinduism based on devotion rather than the management of ritual began to assert itself.[59] The renewal was reflected in a flowering of sculpture and architecture, which found patrons among an urban elite.[58] Classical Sanskrit literature flowered as well, and Indian science, astronomy, medicine, and mathematics made significant advances.[58]

text: Medieval India

text: The Indian early medieval age, 600 CE to 1200 CE, is defined by regional kingdoms and cultural diversity.[60] When Harsha of Kannauj, who ruled much of the Indo-Gangetic Plain from 606 to 647 CE, attempted to expand southwards, he was defeated by the Chalukya ruler of the Deccan.[61] When his successor attempted to expand eastwards, he was defeated by the Pala king of Bengal.[61] When the Chalukyas attempted to expand southwards, they were defeated by the Pallavas from farther south, who in turn were opposed by the Pandyas and the Cholas from still farther south.[61] No ruler of this period was able to create an empire and consistently control lands much beyond his core region.[60] During this time, pastoral peoples whose land had been cleared to make way for the growing agricultural economy were accommodated within caste society, as were new non-traditional ruling classes.[62] The caste system consequently began to show regional differences.[62]

text: In the 6th and 7th centuries, the first devotional hymns were created in the Tamil language.[63] They were imitated all over India and led to both the resurgence of Hinduism and the development of all modern languages of the subcontinent.[63] Indian royalty, big and small, and the temples they patronised, drew citizens in great numbers to the capital cities, which became economic hubs as well.[64] Temple towns of various sizes began to appear everywhere as India underwent another urbanisation.[64] By the 8th and 9th centuries, the effects were felt in South-East Asia, as South Indian culture and political systems were exported to lands that became part of modern-day Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, and Java.[65] Indian merchants, scholars, and sometimes armies were involved in this transmission; South-East Asians took the initiative as well, with many sojourning in Indian seminaries and translating Buddhist and Hindu texts into their languages.[65]

text: After the 10th century, Muslim Central Asian nomadic clans, using swift-horse cavalry and raising vast armies united by ethnicity and religion, repeatedly overran South Asia's north-western plains, leading eventually to the establishment of the Islamic Delhi Sultanate in 1206.[66] The sultanate was to control much of North India, and to make many forays into South India. Although at first disruptive for the Indian elites, the sultanate largely left its vast non-Muslim subject population to its own laws and customs.[67][68] By repeatedly repulsing Mongol raiders in the 13th century, the sultanate saved India from the devastation visited on West and Central Asia, setting the scene for centuries of migration of fleeing soldiers, learned men, mystics, traders, artists, and artisans from that region into the subcontinent, thereby creating a syncretic Indo-Islamic culture in the north.[69][70] The sultanate's raiding and weakening of the regional kingdoms of South India paved the way for the indigenous Vijayanagara Empire.[71] Embracing a strong Shaivite tradition and building upon the military technology of the sultanate, the empire came to control much of peninsular India,[72] and was to influence South Indian society for long afterwards.[71]

text: Early modern India

text: In the early 16th century, northern India, being then under mainly Muslim rulers,[73] fell again to the superior mobility and firepower of a new generation of Central Asian warriors.[74] 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[75][76] and diverse and inclusive ruling elites,[77] leading to more systematic, centralised, and uniform rule.[78] Eschewing tribal bonds and Islamic identity, especially under Akbar, the Mughals united their far-flung realms through loyalty, expressed through a Persianised culture, to an emperor who had near-divine status.[77] The Mughal state's economic policies, deriving most revenues from agriculture[79] and mandating that taxes be paid in the well-regulated silver currency,[80] caused peasants and artisans to enter larger markets.[78] The relative peace maintained by the empire during much of the 17th century was a factor in India's economic expansion,[78] resulting in greater patronage of painting, literary forms, textiles, and architecture.[81] Newly coherent social groups in northern and western India, such as the Marathas, the Rajputs, and the Sikhs, gained military and governing ambitions during Mughal rule, which, through collaboration or adversity, gave them both recognition and military experience.[82] Expanding commerce during Mughal rule gave rise to new Indian commercial and political elites along the coasts of southern and eastern India.[82] As the empire disintegrated, many among these elites were able to seek and control their own affairs.[83]

text: By the early 18th century, with the lines between commercial and political dominance being increasingly blurred, a number of European trading companies, including the English East India Company, had established coastal outposts.[84][85] The East India Company's control of the seas, greater resources, and more advanced military training and technology led it to increasingly flex its military muscle and caused it to become attractive to a portion of the Indian elite; these factors were crucial in allowing the company to gain control over the Bengal region by 1765 and sideline the other European companies.[86][84][87][88] Its further access to the riches of Bengal and the subsequent increased strength and size of its army enabled it to annex or subdue most of India by the 1820s.[89] India was then no longer exporting manufactured goods as it long had, but was instead supplying the British Empire with raw materials, and many historians consider this to be the onset of India's colonial period.[84] By this time, with its economic power severely curtailed by the British parliament and effectively having been made an arm of British administration, the company began to more consciously enter non-economic arenas such as education, social reform, and culture.[90]

text: Modern India

text: Historians consider India's modern age to have begun sometime between 1848 and 1885. The appointment in 1848 of Lord Dalhousie as Governor General of the East India Company set the stage for changes essential to a modern state. These included the consolidation and demarcation of sovereignty, the surveillance of the population, and the education of citizens. Technological changes—among them, railways, canals, and the telegraph—were introduced not long after their introduction in Europe.[91][92][93][94] However, disaffection with the company also grew during this time, and set off the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Fed by diverse resentments and perceptions, including invasive British-style social reforms, harsh land taxes, and summary treatment of some rich landowners and princes, the rebellion rocked many regions of northern and central India and shook the foundations of Company rule.[95][96] Although the rebellion was suppressed by 1858, it led to the dissolution of the East India Company and to the direct administration of India by the British government. Proclaiming a unitary state and a gradual but limited British-style parliamentary system, the new rulers also protected princes and landed gentry as a feudal safeguard against future unrest.[97][98] In the decades following, public life gradually emerged all over India, leading eventually to the founding of the Indian National Congress in 1885.[99][100][101][102]

text: The rush of technology and the commercialisation of agriculture in the second half of the 19th century was marked by economic setbacks—many small farmers became dependent on the whims of far-away markets.[103] There was an increase in the number of large-scale famines,[104] and, despite the risks of infrastructure development borne by Indian taxpayers, little industrial employment was generated for Indians.[105] There were also salutary effects: commercial cropping, especially in the newly canalled Punjab, led to increased food production for internal consumption.[106] The railway network provided critical famine relief,[107] notably reduced the cost of moving goods,[107] and helped nascent Indian-owned industry.[106]

text: After World War I, in which approximately one million Indians served,[108] a new period began. It was marked by British reforms but also repressive legislations, by more strident Indian calls for self-rule, and by the beginnings of a nonviolent movement of non-co-operation, of which Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi would become the leader and enduring symbol.[109] During the 1930s, slow legislative reform was enacted by the British; the Indian National Congress won victories in the resulting elections.[110] The next decade was beset with crises: Indian participation in World War II, the Congress's final push for non-co-operation, and an upsurge of Muslim nationalism. All were capped by the advent of independence in 1947, but tempered by the partition of India into two states: India and Pakistan.[111]

text: Vital to India's self-image as an independent nation was its constitution, completed in 1950, which put in place a secular and democratic republic.[112] It has remained a democracy with civil liberties, an active Supreme Court, and a largely independent press.[113] Economic liberalisation, which was begun in the 1990s, has created a large urban middle class, transformed India into one of the world's fastest-growing economies,[114] and increased its geopolitical clout. Indian movies, music, and spiritual teachings play an increasing role in global culture.[113] Yet, India is also shaped by seemingly unyielding poverty, both rural and urban;[113] by religious and caste-related violence;[115] by Maoist-inspired Naxalite insurgencies;[116] and by separatism in Jammu and Kashmir and in Northeast India.[117] It has unresolved territorial disputes with China[118] and with Pakistan.[118] The India–Pakistan nuclear rivalry came to a head in 1998.[119] India's sustained democratic freedoms are unique among the world's newer nations; however, in spite of its recent economic successes, freedom from want for its disadvantaged population remains a goal yet to be achieved.[120]

text: Geography

text: India comprises the bulk of the Indian subcontinent, lying atop the Indian tectonic plate, and part of the Indo-Australian Plate.[121] India's defining geological processes began 75 million years ago when the Indian plate, then part of the southern supercontinent Gondwana, began a north-eastward drift caused by seafloor spreading to its south-west, and later, south and south-east.[121] Simultaneously, the vast Tethyn oceanic crust, to its northeast, began to subduct under the Eurasian plate.[121] These dual processes, driven by convection in the Earth's mantle, both created the Indian Ocean and caused the Indian continental crust eventually to under-thrust Eurasia and to uplift the Himalayas.[121] Immediately south of the emerging Himalayas, plate movement created a vast trough that rapidly filled with river-borne sediment[122] and now constitutes the Indo-Gangetic Plain.[123] Cut off from the plain by the ancient Aravalli Range lies the Thar Desert.[124]

text: The original Indian plate survives as peninsular India, the oldest and geologically most stable part of India. It extends as far north as the Satpura and Vindhya ranges in central India. These parallel chains run from the Arabian Sea coast in Gujarat in the west to the coal-rich Chota Nagpur Plateau in Jharkhand in the east.[125] To the south, the remaining peninsular landmass, the Deccan Plateau, is flanked on the west and east by coastal ranges known as the Western and Eastern Ghats;[126] the plateau contains the country's oldest rock formations, some over one billion years old. Constituted in such fashion, India lies to the north of the equator between 6° 44' and 35° 30' north latitude[g] and 68° 7' and 97° 25' east longitude.[127]

text: India's coastline measures 7,517 kilometres (4,700 mi) in length; of this distance, 5,423 kilometres (3,400 mi) belong to peninsular India and 2,094 kilometres (1,300 mi) to the Andaman, Nicobar, and Lakshadweep island chains.[128] According to the Indian naval hydrographic charts, the mainland coastline consists of the following: 43% sandy beaches; 11% rocky shores, including cliffs; and 46% mudflats or marshy shores.[128]

text: Major Himalayan-origin rivers that substantially flow through India include the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, both of which drain into the Bay of Bengal.[129] Important tributaries of the Ganges include the Yamuna and the Kosi; the latter's extremely low gradient often leads to severe floods and course changes.[130] Major peninsular rivers, whose steeper gradients prevent their waters from flooding, include the Godavari, the Mahanadi, the Kaveri, and the Krishna, which also drain into the Bay of Bengal;[131] and the Narmada and the Tapti, which drain into the Arabian Sea.[132] Coastal features include the marshy Rann of Kutch of western India and the alluvial Sundarbans delta of eastern India; the latter is shared with Bangladesh.[133] India has two archipelagos: the Lakshadweep, coral atolls off India's south-western coast; and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a volcanic chain in the Andaman Sea.[134]

text: The Indian climate is strongly influenced by the Himalayas and the Thar Desert, both of which drive the economically and culturally pivotal summer and winter monsoons.[135] The Himalayas prevent cold Central Asian katabatic winds from blowing in, keeping the bulk of the Indian subcontinent warmer than most locations at similar latitudes.[136][137] The Thar Desert plays a crucial role in attracting the moisture-laden south-west summer monsoon winds that, between June and October, provide the majority of India's rainfall.[135] Four major climatic groupings predominate in India: tropical wet, tropical dry, subtropical humid, and montane.[138]

text: Biodiversity

text: India lies within the Indomalaya ecozone and contains three biodiversity hotspots.[139] One of 17 megadiverse countries, it hosts 8.6% of all mammalian, 13.7% of all avian, 7.9% of all reptilian, 6% of all amphibian, 12.2% of all piscine, and 6.0% of all flowering plant species.[140][141] About 21.2% of the country's landmass is covered by forests (tree canopy density >10%), of which 12.2% comprises moderately or very dense forests (tree canopy density >40%).[142] Endemism is high among plants, 33%, and among ecoregions such as the shola forests.[143] Habitat ranges from the tropical rainforest of the Andaman Islands, Western Ghats, and North-East India to the coniferous forest of the Himalaya. Between these extremes lie the moist deciduous sal forest of eastern India; the dry deciduous teak forest of central and southern India; and the babul-dominated thorn forest of the central Deccan and western Gangetic plain.[144] The medicinal neem, widely used in rural Indian herbal remedies, is a key Indian tree. The luxuriant pipal fig tree, shown on the seals of Mohenjo-daro, shaded Gautama Buddha as he sought enlightenment.

text: Many Indian species descend from taxa originating in Gondwana, from which the Indian plate separated more than 105 million years before present.[145] Peninsular India's subsequent movement towards and collision with the Laurasian landmass set off a mass exchange of species. Epochal volcanism and climatic changes 20 million years ago forced a mass extinction.[146] Mammals then entered India from Asia through two zoogeographical passes flanking the rising Himalaya.[144] Thus, while 45.8% of reptiles and 55.8% of amphibians are endemic, only 12.6% of mammals and 4.5% of birds are.[141] Among them are the Nilgiri leaf monkey and Beddome's toad of the Western Ghats. India contains 172 IUCN-designated threatened animal species, or 2.9% of endangered forms.[147] These include the Asiatic lion, the Bengal tiger, the snow leopard and the Indian white-rumped vulture, which, by ingesting the carrion of diclofenac-laced cattle, nearly became extinct.

text: The pervasive and ecologically devastating human encroachment of recent decades has critically endangered Indian wildlife. In response the system of national parks and protected areas, first established in 1935, was substantially expanded. In 1972, India enacted the Wildlife Protection Act[148] and Project Tiger to safeguard crucial wilderness; the Forest Conservation Act was enacted in 1980 and amendments added in 1988.[149] India hosts more than five hundred wildlife sanctuaries and thirteen biosphere reserves,[150] four of which are part of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves; twenty-five wetlands are registered under the Ramsar Convention.[151]

text: Politics

text: India is the world's most populous democracy.[152] A parliamentary republic with a multi-party system,[153] it has seven recognised national parties, including the Indian National Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and more than 40 regional parties.[154] The Congress is considered centre-left in Indian political culture,[155] and the BJP right-wing.[156][157][158] For most of the period between 1950—when India first became a republic—and the late 1980s, the Congress held a majority in the parliament. Since then, however, it has increasingly shared the political stage with the BJP,[159] as well as with powerful regional parties which have often forced the creation of multi-party coalitions at the centre.[160]

text: In the Republic of India's first three general elections, in 1951, 1957, and 1962, the Jawaharlal Nehru-led Congress won easy victories. On Nehru's death in 1964, Lal Bahadur Shastri briefly became prime minister; he was succeeded, after his own unexpected death in 1966, by Indira Gandhi, who went on to lead the Congress to election victories in 1967 and 1971. Following public discontent with the state of emergency she declared in 1975, the Congress was voted out of power in 1977; the then-new Janata Party, which had opposed the emergency, was voted in. Its government lasted just over three years. Voted back into power in 1980, the Congress saw a change in leadership in 1984, when Indira Gandhi was assassinated; she was succeeded by her son Rajiv Gandhi, who won an easy victory in the general elections later that year. The Congress was voted out again in 1989 when a National Front coalition, led by the newly formed Janata Dal in alliance with the Left Front, won the elections; that government too proved relatively short-lived, lasting just under two years.[161] Elections were held again in 1991; no party won an absolute majority. The Congress, as the largest single party, was able to form a minority government led by P. V. Narasimha Rao.[162]

text: A two-year period of political turmoil followed the general election of 1996. Several short-lived alliances shared power at the centre. The BJP formed a government briefly in 1996; it was followed by two comparatively long-lasting United Front coalitions, which depended on external support. In 1998, the BJP was able to form a successful coalition, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the NDA became the first non-Congress, coalition government to complete a five-year term.[163] In the 2004 Indian general elections, again no party won an absolute majority, but the Congress emerged as the largest single party, forming another successful coalition: the United Progressive Alliance (UPA). It had the support of left-leaning parties and MPs who opposed the BJP. The UPA returned to power in the 2009 general election with increased numbers, and it no longer required external support from India's communist parties.[164] That year, Manmohan Singh became the first prime minister since Jawaharlal Nehru in 1957 and 1962 to be re-elected to a consecutive five-year term.[165] In the 2014 general election, the BJP became the first political party since 1984 to win a majority and govern without the support of other parties.[166] The Prime Minister of India is Narendra Modi, who was formerly Chief Minister of Gujarat. On 20 July 2017, Ram Nath Kovind was elected India’s 14th President and took the oath of office on 25 July 2017.[167][168][169]

text: Government

text: India is a federation with a parliamentary system governed under the Constitution of India, which serves as the country's supreme legal document. It is a constitutional republic and representative democracy, in which "majority rule is tempered by minority rights protected by law". Federalism in India defines the power distribution between the Union, or Central, government and the states. The government abides by constitutional checks and balances. The Constitution of India, which came into effect on 26 January 1950,[170] states in its preamble that India is a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic.[171] India's form of government, traditionally described as "quasi-federal" with a strong centre and weak states,[172] has grown increasingly federal since the late 1990s as a result of political, economic, and social changes.[173][174]

text:
National symbols[1]

Flag
Tiranga (Tricolour)

Emblem
Sarnath Lion Capital

Language
None[8][9][10]

Anthem
Jana Gana Mana

Song
Vande Mataram

Currency
₹ (Indian rupee)

Calendar
Saka

Animal
Tiger (land)
River dolphin (aquatic)

Bird
Indian peafowl

Flower
Lotus

Fruit
Mango

Tree
Banyan

River
Ganga

Game
Not declared[175]

text: The Union government comprises three branches:[176]

text:
Executive: The President of India is the head of state[177] and is elected indirectly by a national electoral college[178] for a five-year term.[179] The Prime Minister of India is the head of government and exercises most executive power.[180] Appointed by the president,[181] the prime minister is by convention supported by the party or political alliance holding the majority of seats in the lower house of parliament.[180] The executive branch of the Indian government consists of the president, the vice-president, and the Council of Ministers—the cabinet being its executive committee—headed by the prime minister. Any minister holding a portfolio must be a member of one of the houses of parliament.[177] In the Indian parliamentary system, the executive is subordinate to the legislature; the prime minister and his council are directly responsible to the lower house of the parliament.[182]
Legislative: The legislature of India is the bicameral parliament. It operates under a Westminster-style parliamentary system and comprises the upper house called the Rajya Sabha ("Council of States") and the lower called the Lok Sabha ("House of the People").[183] The Rajya Sabha is a permanent body that has 245 members who serve in staggered six-year terms.[184] Most are elected indirectly by the state and territorial legislatures in numbers proportional to their state's share of the national population.[181] All but two of the Lok Sabha's 545 members are directly elected by popular vote; they represent individual constituencies via five-year terms.[185] The remaining two members are nominated by the president from among the Anglo-Indian community, in case the president decides that they are not adequately represented.[186]
Judicial: India has a unitary three-tier independent judiciary[187] that comprises the Supreme Court, headed by the Chief Justice of India, 24 High Courts, and a large number of trial courts.[187] The Supreme Court has original jurisdiction over cases involving fundamental rights and over disputes between states and the centre; it has appellate jurisdiction over the High Courts.[188] It has the power both to declare the law and to strike down union or state laws which contravene the constitution,[189] as well as to invalidate any government action it deems unconstitutional.[190]

text: Subdivisions

text:
States (1–29) & Union territories (A-G)

1. Andhra Pradesh
19. Nagaland

2. Arunachal Pradesh
20. Odisha

3. Assam
21. Punjab

4. Bihar
22. Rajasthan

5. Chhattisgarh
23. Sikkim

6. Goa
24. Tamil Nadu

7. Gujarat
25. Telangana

8. Haryana
26. Tripura

9. Himachal Pradesh
27. Uttar Pradesh

10. Jammu and Kashmir
28. Uttarakhand

11. Jharkhand
29. West Bengal

12. Karnataka
A. Andaman and Nicobar Islands

13. Kerala
B. Chandigarh

14. Madhya Pradesh
C. Dadra and Nagar Haveli

15. Maharashtra
D. Daman and Diu

16. Manipur
E. Lakshadweep

17. Meghalaya
F. National Capital Territory of Delhi

18. Mizoram
G. Puducherry

text: India is a federation composed of 29 states and 7 union territories.[191] All states, as well as the union territories of Puducherry and the National Capital Territory of Delhi, have elected legislatures and governments, both patterned on the Westminster model. The remaining five union territories are directly ruled by the centre through appointed administrators. In 1956, under the States Reorganisation Act, states were reorganised on a linguistic basis.[192] Since then, their structure has remained largely unchanged. Each state or union territory is further divided into administrative districts. The districts in turn are further divided into tehsils and ultimately into villages.

text: Foreign relations and military

text: Since its independence in 1947, India has maintained cordial relations with most nations. In the 1950s, it strongly supported decolonisation in Africa and Asia and played a lead role in the Non-Aligned Movement.[193] In the late 1980s, the Indian military twice intervened abroad at the invitation of neighbouring countries: a peace-keeping operation in Sri Lanka between 1987 and 1990; and an armed intervention to prevent a 1988 coup d'état attempt in Maldives. India has tense relations with neighbouring Pakistan; the two nations have gone to war four times: in 1947, 1965, 1971, and 1999. Three of these wars were fought over the disputed territory of Kashmir, while the fourth, the 1971 war, followed from India's support for the independence of Bangladesh.[194] After waging the 1962 Sino-Indian War and the 1965 war with Pakistan, India pursued close military and economic ties with the Soviet Union; by the late 1960s, the Soviet Union was its largest arms supplier.[195]

text: Aside from ongoing strategic relations with Russia, India has wide-ranging defence relations with Israel and France. In recent years, it has played key roles in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation and the World Trade Organisation. The nation has provided 100,000 military and police personnel to serve in 35 UN peacekeeping operations across four continents. It participates in the East Asia Summit, the G8+5, and other multilateral forums.[196] India has close economic ties with South America,[197] Asia, and Africa; it pursues a "Look East" policy that seeks to strengthen partnerships with the ASEAN nations, Japan, and South Korea that revolve around many issues, but especially those involving economic investment and regional security.[198][199]

text: China's nuclear test of 1964, as well as its repeated threats to intervene in support of Pakistan in the 1965 war, convinced India to develop nuclear weapons.[200] India conducted its first nuclear weapons test in 1974 and carried out further underground testing in 1998. Despite criticism and military sanctions, India has signed neither the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty nor the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, considering both to be flawed and discriminatory.[201] India maintains a "no first use" nuclear policy and is developing a nuclear triad capability as a part of its "minimum credible deterrence" doctrine.[202][203] It is developing a ballistic missile defence shield and, in collaboration with Russia, a fifth-generation fighter jet.[204] Other indigenous military projects involve the design and implementation of Vikrant-class aircraft carriers and Arihant-class nuclear submarines.[204]

text: Since the end of the Cold War, India has increased its economic, strategic, and military co-operation with the United States and the European Union.[205] In 2008, a civilian nuclear agreement was signed between India and the United States. Although India possessed nuclear weapons at the time and was not party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, it received waivers from the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Nuclear Suppliers Group, ending earlier restrictions on India's nuclear technology and commerce. As a consequence, India became the sixth de facto nuclear weapons state.[206] India subsequently signed co-operation agreements involving civilian nuclear energy with Russia,[207] France,[208] the United Kingdom,[209] and Canada.[210]

text: The President of India is the supreme commander of the nation's armed forces; with 1.325 million active troops, they compose the world's third-largest military.[211] It comprises the Indian Army, the Indian Navy, the Indian Air Force, and the Indian Coast Guard.[212] The official Indian defence budget for 2011 was US$36.03 billion, or 1.83% of GDP.[213] For the fiscal year spanning 2012–2013, US$40.44 billion was budgeted.[214] According to a 2008 SIPRI report, India's annual military expenditure in terms of purchasing power stood at US$72.7 billion.[215] In 2011, the annual defence budget increased by 11.6%,[216] although this does not include funds that reach the military through other branches of government.[217] As of 2012[update], India is the world's largest arms importer; between 2007 and 2011, it accounted for 10% of funds spent on international arms purchases.[218] Much of the military expenditure was focused on defence against Pakistan and countering growing Chinese influence in the Indian Ocean.[216]

text: Economy

text: According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Indian economy in 2017 was nominally worth US$2.454 trillion; it is the sixth-largest economy by market exchange rates, and is, at US$9.489 trillion, the third-largest by purchasing power parity, or PPP.[16] With its average annual GDP growth rate of 5.8% over the past two decades, and reaching 6.1% during 2011–12,[219] India is one of the world's fastest-growing economies.[220] However, the country ranks 140th in the world in nominal GDP per capita and 129th in GDP per capita at PPP.[221] Until 1991, all Indian governments followed protectionist policies that were influenced by socialist economics. Widespread state intervention and regulation largely walled the economy off from the outside world. An acute balance of payments crisis in 1991 forced the nation to liberalise its economy;[222] since then it has slowly moved towards a free-market system[223][224] by emphasising both foreign trade and direct investment inflows.[225] India has been a member of WTO since 1 January 1995.[226]

text: The 513.7-million-worker Indian labour force is the world's second-largest, as of 2016[update].[212] The service sector makes up 55.6% of GDP, the industrial sector 26.3% and the agricultural sector 18.1%. India's foreign exchange remittances of US$70 billion in 2014, the largest in the world, contributed to its economy by 25 million Indians working in foreign countries.[227] Major agricultural products include rice, wheat, oilseed, cotton, jute, tea, sugarcane, and potatoes.[191] Major industries include textiles, telecommunications, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, food processing, steel, transport equipment, cement, mining, petroleum, machinery, and software.[191] In 2006, the share of external trade in India's GDP stood at 24%, up from 6% in 1985.[223] In 2008, India's share of world trade was 1.68%;[228] In 2011, India was the world's tenth-largest importer and the nineteenth-largest exporter.[229] Major exports include petroleum products, textile goods, jewellery, software, engineering goods, chemicals, and leather manufactures.[191] Major imports include crude oil, machinery, gems, fertiliser, and chemicals.[191] Between 2001 and 2011, the contribution of petrochemical and engineering goods to total exports grew from 14% to 42%.[230] India was the second largest textile exporter after China in the world in calendar year 2013.[231]

text: Averaging an economic growth rate of 7.5% for several years prior to 2007,[223] India has more than doubled its hourly wage rates during the first decade of the 21st century.[232] Some 431 million Indians have left poverty since 1985; India's middle classes are projected to number around 580 million by 2030.[233] Though ranking 51st in global competitiveness, India ranks 17th in financial market sophistication, 24th in the banking sector, 44th in business sophistication, and 39th in innovation, ahead of several advanced economies, as of 2010[update].[234] With 7 of the world's top 15 information technology outsourcing companies based in India, the country is viewed as the second-most favourable outsourcing destination after the United States, as of 2009[update].[235] India's consumer market, the world's eleventh-largest, is expected to become fifth-largest by 2030.[233]

text: Driven by growth, India's nominal GDP per capita has steadily increased from US$329 in 1991, when economic liberalisation began, to US$1,265 in 2010, to an estimated US$1,723 in 2016, and is expected to grow to US$2,358 by 2020;[16] however, it has remained lower than those of other Asian developing countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, and is expected to remain so in the near future. However, it is higher than Pakistan, Nepal, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and others.[236]

text: According to a 2011 PricewaterhouseCoopers report, India's GDP at purchasing power parity could overtake that of the United States by 2045.[237] During the next four decades, Indian GDP is expected to grow at an annualised average of 8%, making it potentially the world's fastest-growing major economy until 2050.[237] The report highlights key growth factors: a young and rapidly growing working-age population; growth in the manufacturing sector because of rising education and engineering skill levels; and sustained growth of the consumer market driven by a rapidly growing middle class.[237] The World Bank cautions that, for India to achieve its economic potential, it must continue to focus on public sector reform, transport infrastructure, agricultural and rural development, removal of labour regulations, education, energy security, and public health and nutrition.[238]

text: According to the Worldwide Cost of Living Report 2017 released by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) which was created by comparing more than 400 individual prices across 160 products and services, four of the cheapest cities were in India: Bangalore (3rd), Mumbai (5th), Chennai (5th) and New Delhi (8th).[239]

text: Sectors

text: India's telecommunication industry, the world's fastest-growing, added 227 million subscribers during the period 2010–11,[240] and after the first quarter of 2013, India surpassed Japan to become the third-largest smartphone market in the world after China and the US.[241]

text: The Indian automotive industry, the world's second fastest growing, increased domestic sales by 26% during 2009–10,[242] and exports by 36% during 2008–09.[243] India's capacity to generate electrical power is 250 gigawatts, of which 8% is renewable. At the end of 2011, the Indian IT industry employed 2.8 million professionals, generated revenues close to US$100 billion equalling 7.5% of Indian GDP and contributed 26% of India's merchandise exports.[244]

text: The pharmaceutical industry in India is among the significant emerging markets for the global pharmaceutical industry. The Indian pharmaceutical market is expected to reach $48.5 billion by 2020. India's R & D spending constitutes 60% of the biopharmaceutical industry.[245][246] India is among the top 12 biotech destinations of the world.[247][248] The Indian biotech industry grew by 15.1% in 2012–13, increasing its revenues from 204.4 billion INR (Indian rupees) to 235.24 billion INR (3.94 B US$ – exchange rate June 2013: 1 US$ approx. 60 INR).[249] However, hardly 2% of Indians pay income taxes.[250]

text: Poverty

text: Despite economic growth during recent decades, India continues to face socio-economic challenges. In 2006, India contained the largest number of people living below the World Bank's international poverty line of US$1.25 per day,[251] the proportion having decreased from 60% in 1981 to 42% in 2005;[252] under its later revised poverty line, it was 21% in 2011.[h][254] 30.7% of India's children under the age of five are underweight.[255] According to a Food and Agriculture Organization report in 2015, 15% of the population is undernourished.[256][257] The Mid-Day Meal Scheme attempts to lower these rates.[258] Since 1991, economic inequality between India's states has consistently grown: the per-capita net state domestic product of the richest states in 2007 was 3.2 times that of the poorest.[259] Corruption in India is perceived to have increased significantly,[260] with one report estimating the illegal capital flows since independence to be US$462 billion.[261]

text: India has the most people living in conditions of slavery, 18 million, most of whom are in bonded labour.[262][better source needed] India has the largest number of child labourers under the age of 14 in the world with an estimated 12.6 million children engaged in hazardous occupations.[263][264][265][needs update]

text: Demographics

text: With 1,210,193,422 residents reported in the 2011 provisional census report,[266] India is the world's second-most populous country. Its population grew by 17.64% during 2001–2011,[267] compared to 21.54% growth in the previous decade (1991–2001).[267] The human sex ratio, according to the 2011 census, is 940 females per 1,000 males.[266] The median age was 27.6 as of 2016[update].[212] The first post-colonial census, conducted in 1951, counted 361.1 million people.[268] Medical advances made in the last 50 years as well as increased agricultural productivity brought about by the "Green Revolution" have caused India's population to grow rapidly.[269] India continues to face several public health-related challenges.[270][271]

text: Life expectancy in India is at 68 years, with life expectancy for women being 69.6 years and for men being 67.3.[272] There are around 50 physicians per 100,000 Indians.[273] The number of Indians living in urban areas has grown by 31.2% between 1991 and 2001.[274] Yet, in 2001, over 70% lived in rural areas.[275][276] The level of urbanisation increased from 27.81% in 2001 Census to 31.16% in 2011 Census. The slowing down of the overall growth rate of population was due to the sharp decline in the growth rate in rural areas since 1991.[277] According to the 2011 census, there are 53 million-plus urban agglomerations in India; among them Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad, in decreasing order by population.[278] The literacy rate in 2011 was 74.04%: 65.46% among females and 82.14% among males.[279] The rural urban literacy gap which was 21.2 percentage points in 2001, dropped to 16.1 percentage points in 2011. The improvement in literacy rate in rural area is two times that in urban areas.[277] Kerala is the most literate state with 93.91% literacy; while Bihar the least with 63.82%.[279]

text: India is home to two major language families: Indo-Aryan (spoken by about 74% of the population) and Dravidian (spoken by 24% of the population). Other languages spoken in India come from the Austroasiatic and Sino-Tibetan language families. India has no national language.[280] Hindi, with the largest number of speakers, is the official language of the government.[281][282] English is used extensively in business and administration and has the status of a "subsidiary official language";[4] it is important in education, especially as a medium of higher education. Each state and union territory has one or more official languages, and the constitution recognises in particular 22 "scheduled languages". The Constitution of India recognises 212 scheduled tribal groups which together constitute about 7.5% of the country's population.[283] The 2011 census reported that the religion in India with the largest number of followers was Hinduism (79.80% of the population), followed by Islam (14.23%); the remaining were Christianity (2.30%), Sikhism (1.72%), Buddhism (0.70%), Jainism (0.36%) and others[c] (0.9%).[11] India has the world's largest Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Zoroastrian, and Bahá'í populations, and has the third-largest Muslim population—the largest for a non-Muslim majority country.[284][285]

text: Culture

text: Indian cultural history spans more than 4,500 years.[286] During the Vedic period (c. 1700 – 500 BCE), the foundations of Hindu philosophy, mythology, theology and literature were laid, and many beliefs and practices which still exist today, such as dhárma, kárma, yóga, and mokṣa, were established.[21] India is notable for its religious diversity, with Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Islam, Christianity, and Jainism among the nation's major religions.[287] The predominant religion, Hinduism, has been shaped by various historical schools of thought, including those of the Upanishads,[288] the Yoga Sutras, the Bhakti movement,[287] and by Buddhist philosophy.[289]

text: Art and architecture

text: Much of Indian architecture, including the Taj Mahal, other works of Mughal architecture, and South Indian architecture, blends ancient local traditions with imported styles.[290] Vernacular architecture is also highly regional in it flavours. Vastu shastra, literally "science of construction" or "architecture" and ascribed to Mamuni Mayan,[291] explores how the laws of nature affect human dwellings;[292] it employs precise geometry and directional alignments to reflect perceived cosmic constructs.[293] As applied in Hindu temple architecture, it is influenced by the Shilpa Shastras, a series of foundational texts whose basic mythological form is the Vastu-Purusha mandala, a square that embodied the "absolute".[294] The Taj Mahal, built in Agra between 1631 and 1648 by orders of Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife, has been described in the UNESCO World Heritage List as "the jewel of Muslim art in India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world's heritage".[295] Indo-Saracenic Revival architecture, developed by the British in the late 19th century, drew on Indo-Islamic architecture.[296]

text: Literature

text: The earliest literary writings in India, composed between 1700 BCE and 1200 CE, were in the Sanskrit language.[297][298] Prominent works of this Sanskrit literature include epics such as the Mahābhārata and the Ramayana, the dramas of Kālidāsa such as the Abhijñānaśākuntalam (The Recognition of Śakuntalā), and poetry such as the Mahākāvya.[299][300][301] Kamasutra, the famous book about sexual intercourse also originated in India. Developed between 600 BCE and 300 CE in South India, the Sangam literature, consisting of 2,381 poems, is regarded as a predecessor of Tamil literature.[302][303][304][305] From the 14th to the 18th centuries, India's literary traditions went through a period of drastic change because of the emergence of devotional poets such as Kabīr, Tulsīdās, and Guru Nānak. This period was characterised by a varied and wide spectrum of thought and expression; as a consequence, medieval Indian literary works differed significantly from classical traditions.[306] In the 19th century, Indian writers took a new interest in social questions and psychological descriptions. In the 20th century, Indian literature was influenced by the works of Bengali poet and novelist Rabindranath Tagore,[307] who was a recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature.

text: Performing arts

text: Indian music ranges over various traditions and regional styles. Classical music encompasses two genres and their various folk offshoots: the northern Hindustani and southern Carnatic schools.[308] Regionalised popular forms include filmi and folk music; the syncretic tradition of the bauls is a well-known form of the latter. Indian dance also features diverse folk and classical forms. Among the better-known folk dances are the bhangra of Punjab, the bihu of Assam, the chhau of Odisha, West Bengal and Jharkhand, garba and dandiya of Gujarat, ghoomar of Rajasthan, and the lavani of Maharashtra. Eight dance forms, many with narrative forms and mythological elements, have been accorded classical dance status by India's National Academy of Music, Dance, and Drama. These are: bharatanatyam of the state of Tamil Nadu, kathak of Uttar Pradesh, kathakali and mohiniyattam of Kerala, kuchipudi of Andhra Pradesh, manipuri of Manipur, odissi of Odisha, and the sattriya of Assam.[309] Theatre in India melds music, dance, and improvised or written dialogue.[310] Often based on Hindu mythology, but also borrowing from medieval romances or social and political events, Indian theatre includes the bhavai of Gujarat, the jatra of West Bengal, the nautanki and ramlila of North India, tamasha of Maharashtra, burrakatha of Andhra Pradesh, terukkuttu of Tamil Nadu, and the yakshagana of Karnataka.[311]

text: Motion pictures, television

text: The Indian film industry produces the world's most-watched cinema.[312] Established regional cinematic traditions exist in the Assamese, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Punjabi, Gujarati, Marathi, Odia, Tamil, and Telugu languages.[313] South Indian cinema attracts more than 75% of national film revenue.[314]

text: Television broadcasting began in India in 1959 as a state-run medium of communication, and had slow expansion for more than two decades.[315][316] The state monopoly on television broadcast ended in the 1990s and, since then, satellite channels have increasingly shaped popular culture of Indian society.[317] Today, television is the most penetrative media in India; industry estimates indicate that as of 2012[update] there are over 554 million TV consumers, 462 million with satellite and/or cable connections, compared to other forms of mass media such as press (350 million), radio (156 million) or internet (37 million).[318]

text: Cuisine

text: Indian cuisine encompasses a wide variety of regional and traditional cuisines, often depending on a particular state (such as Maharashtrian cuisine). Staple foods of Indian cuisine include pearl millet (bājra), rice, whole-wheat flour (aṭṭa), and a variety of lentils, such as masoor (most often red lentils), toor (pigeon peas), urad (black gram), and mong (mung beans). Lentils may be used whole, dehusked—for example, dhuli moong or dhuli urad—or split. Split lentils, or dal, are used extensively.[319] The spice trade between India and Europe is often cited by historians as the primary catalyst for Europe's Age of Discovery.[320]

text: Society

text: Traditional Indian society is sometimes defined by social hierarchy. The Indian caste system embodies much of the social stratification and many of the social restrictions found in the Indian subcontinent. Social classes are defined by thousands of endogamous hereditary groups, often termed as jātis, or "castes".[321] India declared untouchability to be illegal[322] in 1947 and has since enacted other anti-discriminatory laws and social welfare initiatives. At the workplace in urban India and in international or leading Indian companies, the caste related identification has pretty much lost its importance.[323][324]

text: Family values are important in the Indian tradition, and multi-generational patriarchal joint families have been the norm in India, though nuclear families are becoming common in urban areas.[325] An overwhelming majority of Indians, with their consent, have their marriages arranged by their parents or other elders in the family.[326] Marriage is thought to be for life,[326] and the divorce rate is extremely low.[327] As of 2001[update], just 1.6 percent of Indian women were divorced but this figure was rising due to their education and economic independence.[327] Child marriages are common, especially in rural areas; many women wed before reaching 18, which is their legal marriageable age.[328] Female infanticide and female foeticide in the country have caused a discrepancy in the sex ratio, as of 2005[update] it was estimated that there were 50 million more males than females in the nation.[329][330] However a report from 2011 has shown improvement in the gender ratio.[331] The payment of dowry, although illegal, remains widespread across class lines.[332] Deaths resulting from dowry, mostly from bride burning, are on the rise, despite stringent anti-dowry laws.[333]

text: Many Indian festivals are religious in origin. The best known include Diwali, Ganesh Chaturthi, Thai Pongal, Holi, Durga Puja, Eid ul-Fitr, Bakr-Id, Christmas, and Vaisakhi.[334][335] India has three national holidays which are observed in all states and union territories – Republic Day, Independence Day and Gandhi Jayanti. Other sets of holidays, varying between nine and twelve, are officially observed in individual states.

text: Clothing

text: Cotton was domesticated in India by 4000 BCE. Traditional Indian dress varies in colour and style across regions and depends on various factors, including climate and faith. Popular styles of dress include draped garments such as the sari for women and the dhoti or lungi for men. Stitched clothes, such as the shalwar kameez for women and kurta–pyjama combinations or European-style trousers and shirts for men, are also popular.[336] Use of delicate jewellery, modelled on real flowers worn in ancient India, is part of a tradition dating back some 5,000 years; gemstones are also worn in India as talismans.[337]

text: Sports

text: In India, several traditional indigenous sports remain fairly popular, such as kabaddi, kho kho, pehlwani and gilli-danda. Some of the earliest forms of Asian martial arts, such as kalarippayattu, musti yuddha, silambam, and marma adi, originated in India. Chess, commonly held to have originated in India as chaturaṅga, is regaining widespread popularity with the rise in the number of Indian grandmasters.[338][339] Pachisi, from which parcheesi derives, was played on a giant marble court by Akbar.[340]

text: The improved results garnered by the Indian Davis Cup team and other Indian tennis players in the early 2010s have made tennis increasingly popular in the country.[341] India has a comparatively strong presence in shooting sports, and has won several medals at the Olympics, the World Shooting Championships, and the Commonwealth Games.[342][343] Other sports in which Indians have succeeded internationally include badminton[344] (Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu are two of the top ranked female badminton players in the world), boxing,[345] and wrestling.[346] Football is popular in West Bengal, Goa, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and the north-eastern states.[347] India is scheduled to host the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup.[348]

text: Field hockey in India is administered by Hockey India. The Indian national hockey team won the 1975 Hockey World Cup and have, as of 2016[update], taken eight gold, one silver, and two bronze Olympic medals, making it the sport's most successful team in the Olympics.

text: India has also played a major role in popularising cricket. Thus, cricket is, by far, the most popular sport in India. The Indian national cricket team won the 1983 and 2011 Cricket World Cup events, the 2007 ICC World Twenty20, shared the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy with Sri Lanka, and won 2013 ICC Champions Trophy. Cricket in India is administered by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI); the Ranji Trophy, the Duleep Trophy, the Deodhar Trophy, the Irani Trophy, and the NKP Salve Challenger Trophy are domestic competitions. The BCCI also conducts an annual Twenty20 competition known as the Indian Premier League.

text: India has hosted or co-hosted several international sporting events: the 1951 and 1982 Asian Games; the 1987, 1996, and 2011 Cricket World Cup tournaments; the 2003 Afro-Asian Games; the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy; the 2010 Hockey World Cup; and the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Major international sporting events held annually in India include the Chennai Open, the Mumbai Marathon, the Delhi Half Marathon, and the Indian Masters. The first Formula 1 Indian Grand Prix featured in late 2011 but has been discontinued from the F1 season calendar since 2014.[349]

text: India has traditionally been the dominant country at the South Asian Games. An example of this dominance is the basketball competition where Team India won three out of four tournaments to date.[350]

text: The Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna and the Arjuna Award are the highest forms of government recognition for athletic achievement; the Dronacharya Award is awarded for excellence in coaching.


document_title: The Book of Henry

question_text: who plays peter from the book of henry

question_tokens: who plays peter from the book of henry

text: The Book of Henry

text: Plot[edit]

text: In a small suburban town in the Hudson Valley, 11-year-old boy genius Henry Carpenter and his younger brother Peter are being raised by their single mother Susan, a waitress who is working on writing children's picture books. Henry has used his intellect to invest successfully in the stock market, building up a very substantial nest egg for his family. Henry also protects Peter from a school bully and builds Rube Goldberg machines in their tree house. Henry and Susan are both fond of their next-door neighbor (and Henry's classmate), Christina Sickleman, who has recently become glum.

text: Henry sees Christina being abused by her stepfather, Glenn, the local police commissioner. Henry reports the abuse to social services and the school principal, Janice Wilder, but Glenn has connections throughout the local government, and Wilder is reluctant to challenge the commissioner without "conclusive evidence". Henry is unable to get the authorities to launch a serious investigation that would protect Christina. Henry tells his mother that when someone is in trouble, those who can help must take action. He develops a detailed plan to rescue Christina that he memorializes in a notebook. After a violent seizure, Henry is taken to the hospital, where he is diagnosed with a brain tumor and undergoes surgery. Anticipating his death, he tells Peter to give Susan the notebook. Days later, Henry dies in Susan's arms in the hospital.

text: Susan is distraught at Henry's death and has difficulty functioning, but when Peter gives her the notebook, she focuses on Henry's plan. Susan tries, but fails, to interest a nearby social services agency in opening an investigation. One night, from the window in Peter's bedroom, she sees Glenn in Christina's room and decides to carry out the plan. The notebook and an accompanying cassette tape describe a step-by-step plan to kill Glenn with a sniper rifle while covering Susan's tracks so that it will be impossible to trace the murder back to her. Susan's alibi is to be provided by executing the murder while both Christina and Peter are performing at a school talent show.

text: Susan slips away from the talent show and puts the plan into motion. As she is about to pull the trigger, however, she realizes that Henry's plan, though ingenious, is the construct of a child, and that she must act as an adult. She immediately confronts Glenn and tells him that she is going to expose him for what he has done to Christina. Glenn replies that everyone will believe him, not her, and he tells her that he is going to call his police chief to come and bring her in. At the same time, affected by Christina's dance performance at the talent show, Principal Wilder decides to follow through on the abuse accusation and contacts the authorities. Glenn returns home, calls his relative at Social Services, and learns that an investigation is being opened into his abuse of Christina. As the police arrive at his house in response to his report about Susan, Glenn kills himself. Susan legally adopts Christina as her daughter. She also finishes writing one of her children's books, as Henry had urged her to do.

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Jaeden Lieberher as Henry Carpenter, the title character and Susan's older son.
Jacob Tremblay as Peter Carpenter, Henry's brother and Susan’s younger son
Naomi Watts as Susan Carpenter, the mother of Henry and Peter[6]
Dean Norris as Glenn Sickleman, the police commissioner and Christina's abusive stepfather
Maddie Ziegler as Christina Sickleman, Glenn's stepdaughter
Sarah Silverman as Sheila, a waitress and Susan's best friend
Lee Pace as David Daniels, a neurosurgeon who operates on Henry
Bobby Moynihan as John, Susan's and Sheila's boss at the diner
Tonya Pinkins as Janice Wilder, the school principal
Geraldine Hughes as Mrs. Evans, Henry's and Christina's teacher
Jackson Nicoll as Morris, a boy who bullies Peter

text: Production[edit]

text: Hurwitz wrote the first draft of the screenplay by 1998. The film was eventually optioned by Jenette Kahn, and Sidney Kimmel Entertainment joined as a producer. An executive at Kimmel Entertainment thought that Colin Trevorrow would be right to direct The Book of Henry. Trevorrow and Hurwitz found each other to be congenial, but then Trevorrow was hired to direct Jurassic World. Another director was considered. By early 2015, after Trevorrow finished Jurassic World, he returned to The Book of Henry.[7][8] Kimmel Entertainment and Double Nickel Entertainment financed and co-produced the film; producers are Sidney Kimmel, Kahn and Adam Richman.[9] Focus Features obtained worldwide distribution rights.[10]

text: Principal photography on the film began in September 2015 in and around New York City,[6][11][12][13] and concluded in November.[14] The music was composed by Michael Giacchino.[15] Stevie Nicks sang a new song in the film.[16]

text: Release[edit]

text: The Book of Henry was scheduled to be released on September 16, 2016,[17] but Focus rescheduled the film's release to June 16, 2017.[18][19] The film premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival on June 14, 2017.[20] In its opening weekend, the film grossed $1.4 million from 579 theaters (an average of $2,460 per theater), finishing 13th at the box office, and making it "by far the biggest start among the new Specialties" opening that weekend.[21]

text: The film was featured at the July 2017 Ischia Film Festival, where Trevorrow was honored with the Breakout Director award for the film.[22]

text: Critical response[edit]

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 22% based on 107 reviews, with an average rating of 4.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "The Book of Henry deserves a few points for ambition, but its tonal juggling act – and a deeply maudlin twist – may leave viewers gaping in disbelief rather than choking back tears."[23] On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating, the film has a score of 31 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[24]

text: Owen Gleiberman of Variety wrote: "There’s the kind of bad movie that just sits there, unfolding with grimly predictable monotony. Then there’s the kind where the badness expands and metastasizes, taking on a jaw-dropping life of its own, pushing through to ever-higher levels of garishness. The Book of Henry ... is of the latter, you’ve-got-to-see-it-to-disbelieve-it variety."[25] The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw, in a critical review, said that, "in its pure misjudged ickiness, bad-acting ropiness, and its quirksy, smirksy passive-aggressive tweeness, this insidiously terrible film could hardly get any more skin-crawling."[26] Writing for Vulture, Emily Yoshida opined, "It does not suffice to call The Book of Henry bad; it’s nonfunctional, so poorly conceived from the ground up as to slip out of the grasp of the usual standards one applies to narrative film. It might be admirable if it wasn’t such torture to watch."[27]

text: Ignatiy Vishnevetsky of The A.V. Club wrote: "Director Colin Trevorrow...lacks any of the eccentricities that might make this quirky and contrived material work, even at face value," though he added, "its above-average performances and insistence on following through on an off-beat premise give it a hint of battiness."[28] Writing for Rolling Stone, Peter Travers gave it 1.5 stars out of 4, saying: "The Book of Henry starts well, begins flirting with absurdity in the middle – and ends in crashing disaster. But the feeling persists that director Colin Treverrow believes every word in the shambles of a 20-year-old screenplay by crime novelist Gregg Hurwitz."[29] Stephen Schaefer of the Boston Herald was one of the minority of critics who praised the film, as was Colin Covert of the Chicago Tribune, who concluded: "This is a poignant, frequently funny film that moves into unexpected dark subjects."[30][31]

text: Audience response has been more favorable than the critical response. Caroline McVitty commented in The Island Packet: "It is a movie that critics hate and audiences love."[32][33] while Metacritc's "User Score" is 4.5 out of 10, indicating mixed or average reviews.[34]