Earlier in India’s history, its neighboring northern countries would venture past its borders. The most important during the 8^th Century was the coming of Islam. This was brought about by Arab, Turkish and Persian raiders. Some of these people stayed and by the 13^th Century, India was predominantly Muslim, and the numbers of Muslims would steadily increase. It was not until the arrival of the Portuguese in the 15^th Century did India experience European rule. This saw the decline in Muslims along the coastlines and India submitted to British rule (“India”, 2009).

The partition of British India was that of religious demographics. During the mid nineteenth until the mid twentieth century, India was under direct British administration. India became partitioned under two major religions after this – Hindu and Muslim.

It was in 1947 when British rule ended in India and this led to the creation of two sovereign states – the secular Union of India and the Dominion of Pakistan. With India being mostly Hindu and Pakistan being mostly Muslim (“India”, 2009).

It was this partition which lead to the Indian Independence Act 1947 (“The Partition of India”, 2010). The partition resulted in the division of the Bengal province into East Pakistan, and West Bengal, to India. Now, India is one of the most diverse countries in terms of ethnicity. It remains to have a very diverse culture in which there are not only numerous religious groups, but also tribes and sects. India is always diverse in linguistic groups, with many different dialects and even languages unrelated to each other.