Famous landmarks in India
38 landmarks · 17 animals · 7 places to discover
India on My Earth Toy, the free 3D toy globe for kids: 38 landmarks, 17 animals, 7 places to discover. Here you can see its flag, capital and size, then fly to every place on the globe.
Three horizontal stripes of saffron, white and green, with a navy blue wheel of 24 spokes in the centre.
Read about this flag →India at a glance
- Capital
- New Delhi
- Continent
- Asia
- Area
- 3,287,263 km²
- Population
- 1.45 billion
India is a huge country in South Asia that fills most of the Indian subcontinent, with the Himalayas to the north and the Indian Ocean to the south. Its capital is New Delhi. India is the seventh-largest country by area and has more people than any other country in the world. It is known for its ancient history, colourful festivals, spicy food, cricket, Bollywood films and an amazing variety of languages and religions.
On My Earth Toy you can visit dozens of Indian places, including the Taj Mahal, the Golden Temple, the Red Fort, the rock-cut Kailasa Temple at Ellora, the Ajanta Caves, the Konark Sun Temple and the 182-metre Statue of Unity. Look out for the Bengal tiger, Indian peafowl, snow leopard, Indian rhinoceros and Asiatic lion, and discover Mawsynram, one of the wettest places on Earth.
Geography and nature
India stretches from icy Himalayan peaks to tropical beaches. Kangchenjunga, on the border with Nepal, is the country's highest mountain and the third-highest in the world at 8,586 metres. Below the mountains lies the fertile plain of the Ganges River, while the Thar Desert spreads across the west and the Deccan Plateau fills the south. Each summer the monsoon winds bring heavy rain. India's forests shelter tigers, elephants and one-horned rhinos, and the Gir Forest is the last wild home of the Asiatic lion.
People, languages and culture
India has hundreds of languages; Hindi is the most widely spoken, English is used in government and business, and the constitution lists 22 official regional languages, including Bengali, Telugu, Marathi and Tamil. Most Indians are Hindu, and there are also large Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist and Jain communities. Festivals such as Diwali, the festival of lights, and Holi, the festival of colours, are celebrated with great joy. Cricket is the most loved sport, and Indian films are watched all over the world.
History in a nutshell
The Indus Valley civilisation, one of the world's oldest, grew cities here more than 4,000 years ago. Later, the Maurya Empire under Ashoka and the Gupta Empire united large parts of the subcontinent. From the 16th century, the Mughal emperors ruled much of India and built monuments like the Taj Mahal. By the 19th century Britain controlled the region. After a long, largely nonviolent independence movement led by Mahatma Gandhi and others, India became independent on 15 August 1947 and a republic in 1950.
Fun facts
- The game of chess grew out of an ancient Indian game called chaturanga.
- The way we write numbers with a zero and place values was developed by mathematicians in ancient India.
- The Statue of Unity in Gujarat is the tallest statue in the world, about twice as tall as the Statue of Liberty with its base.
- The Gir Forest in Gujarat is the only place where Asiatic lions still live in the wild.
Famous landmarks in India
Taj Mahal
India · Asia
A white-marble mausoleum built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife; a masterpiece of Mughal architecture.
Statue of Unity
India · Asia
A 182 m statue of independence leader Sardar Patel, the tallest statue in the world.
Golden Temple (Harmandir Sahib)
India · Asia
The holiest shrine of Sikhism, a gilded temple in the middle of a sacred pool.
Antilia
India · Asia
A 27-storey, 173 m private residence on Altamount Road, designed by Perkins+Will.
Kailasa Temple, Ellora
India · Asia
The world's largest monolithic rock-cut temple, carved top-down out of a single basalt cliff at Ellora.
Red Fort
India · Asia
Shah Jahan's red-sandstone Mughal fortress, where India's Independence Day is marked each year.
Ajanta Caves
India · Asia
About 30 Buddhist caves cut into a horseshoe-shaped gorge, preserving masterpieces of ancient Indian painting.
Konark Sun Temple
India · Asia
Temple built as the chariot of the sun god Surya, with 24 carved stone wheels drawn by seven horses.
Qutub Minar
India · Asia
A 72.5 m fluted minaret of red sandstone, built by the early Delhi Sultanate.
Brihadisvara Temple
India · Asia
Chola granite temple whose 63 m, 13-tier vimana is capped by a single stone weighing about 80 tonnes.
Meenakshi Amman Temple
India · Asia
A Hindu temple famous for its towering gopurams covered in thousands of painted figures.
India Gate
India · Asia
A sandstone war memorial arch honouring Indian soldiers who died in the First World War.
Hawa Mahal
India · Asia
The "Palace of Winds", a pink sandstone facade with 953 small latticed windows.
Mysore Palace
India · Asia
The royal palace of the Wadiyars, spectacularly lit by nearly 100,000 bulbs on festival nights.
Taj Mahal Palace Hotel
India · Asia
An Indo-Saracenic hotel opened in 1903, facing the harbour beside the Gateway of India.
Lotus Temple
India · Asia
A Baháʼí house of worship shaped like a lotus of 27 marble petals, open to people of all faiths.
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus
India · Asia
Mumbai's great railway terminus, fusing Victorian Gothic Revival with Indian motifs under a soaring central dome.
Gateway of India
India · Asia
A basalt arch on Mumbai's waterfront, built to commemorate a British royal visit.
Charminar
India · Asia
A monument of four arches and four minarets at the heart of Hyderabad's old city.
Agra Fort
India · Asia
Red sandstone fortress-palace of the Mughal emperors; from its white marble pavilions Shah Jahan could see the Taj Mahal.
Great Stupa, Sanchi
India · Asia
Begun by Emperor Ashoka, one of India's oldest stone structures: a hemispherical stupa ringed by four carved gateways.
Amber Fort
India · Asia
Pale sandstone hill fort-palace above Maota Lake, famous for its mirror-covered Sheesh Mahal.
Golconda Fort
India · Asia
A citadel on a 120 m granite hill west of Hyderabad, greatly fortified by the Qutb Shahi dynasty in the 16th century.
Howrah Bridge
India · Asia
A cantilever steel bridge over the Hooghly River and one of the busiest bridges in the world.
Dakshineswar Kali Temple
India · Asia
A Hindu temple of the goddess Kali on the Hooghly, built by Rani Rashmoni and completed in 1855.
Victoria Memorial
India · Asia
A grand white-marble hall dedicated to Queen Victoria, now a museum set in large gardens.
Rashtrapati Bhavan
India · Asia
The official residence of the President of India, designed by Edwin Lutyens and completed in 1929.
Chennai Central railway station
India · Asia
Chennai's main railway station, opened in 1873 and given its present Gothic and Romanesque Revival form by Robert Fellowes Chisholm in 1900.
Vidhana Soudha
India · Asia
The granite seat of Karnataka's legislature in Neo-Dravidian style, completed in 1956.
Bangalore Palace
India · Asia
The Wodeyar royal family's Tudor Revival palace, modelled on Windsor Castle and completed in 1878.
Kapaleeshwarar Temple
India · Asia
A Dravidian-style temple of Shiva in Mylapore, Chennai, rebuilt in the 17th century.
Humayun's Tomb
India · Asia
Tomb of the Mughal emperor Humayun — red sandstone, white marble and a double dome, the prototype of the Taj Mahal.
World One
India · Asia
A 76-storey, 280 m residential skyscraper in Lower Parel by Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, completed in 2020.
The 42
India · Asia
A 65-storey, 249 m residential skyscraper on Chowringhee Road by Hafeez Contractor, completed in 2019 and the tallest building in India outside Mumbai.
Kandariya Mahadeva Temple, Khajuraho
India · Asia
Largest of the Khajuraho temples, its shikhara rising like a mountain range of 84 miniature spires.
Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
India · Asia
Founded in 1958 with Soviet and UNESCO help beside Powai Lake in Mumbai, it is one of India's top engineering schools, with one of the world's most competitive entrance exams.
Bombay Stock Exchange (Phiroze Jeejeebhoy Towers)
India · Asia
The 29-storey, 118 m headquarters of the Bombay Stock Exchange on Dalal Street, completed in 1980.
Animals in India
Places to discover in India
Questions
What is the capital of India?
The capital of India is New Delhi.
Which continent is India in?
India is in Asia.
How big is India?
India covers about 3,287,263 km².
How many people live in India?
About 1.45 billion people live in India.
What are the most famous landmarks in India?
Some of the best-known landmarks in India are Taj Mahal, Statue of Unity, Golden Temple (Harmandir Sahib), Antilia and Kailasa Temple, Ellora. My Earth Toy has 38 landmarks from India on its free 3D globe, each with a photo and quick facts.
Which animals can you find in India on My Earth Toy?
On the globe you can find Bengal tiger, Indian peafowl, Snow leopard, Red panda and Indian cobra in India.
Sources
Updated: 2026-10-30