Which came first, India or Samsung?

Samsung came first, by 9 years. Lee Byung-chul opened a trading company in Daegu, Korea.

Side by side

India

India became independent on 15 August 1947 and a republic on 26 January 1950, when the constitution took effect — which is why the country has two national days. It remained a dominion with the British monarch as head of state for those two and a half years. India as a civilisation is thousands of years older; India as a state with its present borders is younger than the ballpoint pen.

Samsung

Samsung began in 1938 as a grocery trading company dealing in dried fish, vegetables and noodles, which it exported to Manchuria. It moved into textiles, insurance and retail before making its first electronic product — a black-and-white television — in 1970. The name means "three stars".