e in 1947.
The subcontinent was divided into the secular state of India and the
smaller Muslim state of Pakistan. A third war between the two
countries in 1971 resulted in East Pakistan becoming the separate
nation of Bangladesh. Fundamental concerns in India include the
ongoing dispute with Pakistan over Kashmir, massive overpopulation,
environmental degradation, extensive poverty, and ethnic and
religious strife, all this despite impressive gains in economic
investment and output.

Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's
five oceans (after the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Ocean, but larger
than the Southern Ocean and Arctic Ocean). Four critically important
access waterways are the Suez Canal (Egypt), Bab el Mandeb
(Djibouti-Yemen), Strait of Hormuz (Iran-Oman), and Strait of
Malacca (Indonesia-Malaysia). The decision by the International
Hydrographic Organization in the spring of 2000 to delimit a fifth
ocean, the Southern Ocean, removed the portion of the Indian Ocean
south of 60 degrees south.

Indonesia
The Dutch began to colonize Indonesia in the early 17th
century; the islands were occupied by Japan from 1942 to 1945.
Indonesia declared its independence after Japan's surrender, but it
required four years of intermittent negotiations, recurring
hostilities, and UN mediation before the Netherlands agreed to
relinquish its colony. Indonesia is the world's largest archipelagic
state. Current issues include: alleviating widespread poverty,
preventing terrorism, continuing the transition to popularly-elected
governments after four decades of authoritarianism, implementing
reforms of the banking sector, addressing charges of cronyism and
corruption, holding the military and police accountable for human
rights violations, and resolving armed separatist movements in Aceh
and Papua.

Iran
Known as Persia until 1935, Iran became an Islamic republic in
1979 after the ruling monarchy was overthrown and the shah was
forced into exile. Conservative clerical forces established a
theocratic system of government with ultimate political authority
nominally vested in a learned religious scholar. Iranian-US
relations have been strained since a group of Iranian students
seized the US Embassy in Tehran on 4 November 1979 and held it until
20 January 1981. During 1980-88, Iran fought a bloody, indecisive
war with Iraq that even