Stare at the underbelly of Asia and behold the Indian behemoth: 950 million people—one-sixth of the world's population—who live in a country one-third the size of the U.S., who speak more than a thousand languages and dialects, and who support more than 20 political parties in the world's biggest and perhaps boldest experiment in democracy.
Memories of maharajas past loom large in Jodhpur, where, on its outskirts, green chilies spice dinner.
—From "India: Fifty Years of Independence," May 1997, National Geographic magazine
Journey across the Himalaya to the isolated peaks of Bhutan, where the Buddhist citizens of this "hermit kingdom" are catching up to the modern world at a slow and gentle pace.
Flush with wealth from its oil fields, Oman has catapulted from an Arabian Peninsula backwater to a modern nation while managing to keep many of its traditions alive.
Wedged between two enemies—India with its Hindu majority and Muslim Pakistan—both the land and people of Kashmir have been caught in the cross fire for a half century.
Peer behind the veil and enter the lives of Saudi Arabian women in this photo gallery that explores how these women of tradition are adapting as their society modernizes.
