9 things you must know about Telangana

As has been pointed out by the Christian Science Monitor the new state of Telangana is big enough to be the world's 33rd largest country.

India is the world's seventh largest country.

Telegana will be India's 29th State.

Iowa was the United States's 29th State. The total area of Telangana is 145,743 km². The total area of Iowa is 114,840 km².

Iowa is a state central to the American Presidential process -- it is where the Democratic and Republican parties conduct the first primary for the party's Presidential nomination in an election year.

Hyderabad -- the shared capital of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for 10 years -- was India's largest and richest princely state from 1724 to 1948. It existed as a state for 224 years.

It earned the accolade 'Cyberabad' during Nara Chandrababu Naidu's chief ministership between 1995 and 2004.

Ruled by seven Nizams for two centuries, Hyderabad state had its own army, airline, telecommunication system, railway network, postal system, currency and radio broadcasting service.

After Partition, the Nizam wanted a sovereign state -- he even considered merger with Pakistan -- but after a short military campaign, Hyderabad became part of the Indian Union in 1948.

Telangana will have 10 districts, 17 Lok Sabha seats and 119 assembly seats. It will have a population of about 35 million people.

The demand for Telangana is as old as the state of Andhra Pradesh, which was created in 1956.

The last time new states were created was in 2000 when the National Democratic Alliance was in power.

The states created were Jharkhand, Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh.

P V Narasimha Rao, India's ninth prime minister, was a native of Telangana.

Osmania University, the epicenter of the Telangana movement, was established in 1918 and is named after the last Nizam.

It is the seventh oldest university in India, the third oldest in south India and the first to be established in the erstwhile princely state of Hyderabad.

Of the largest countries in the world, the Russian Federation has 83 federal subjects (or states);

Canada: 10 provinces, 3 territories;

China: 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four direct-controlled municipalities and two mostly self-governing special administrative regions (Hong Kong and Macau);

The United States: 50 states and the District of Columbia where its capital Washington, DC is located;

Brazil: 27 federative units and one federal district where its capital Brasilia lies;

Australia: Six states and three territories;

India: 28 states and 7 Union Territories. Telangana will be the 29th state.