Please correct my essay :)

My essay dedicated in on India. Before I started writing down I thought what I know about this country
and I realized that nothing. Therefore I was forced to use internet sources. And here is what I found out: India is Republic, the main religion is Hinduism and there are
other religions but to a lesser extent.
Long time ago India was a British colony but in 1947 year India got a long-awaited independence.
India is a country with a very hot climate. Therefore a hundreds of Russian tourists every year chose Goa as their vacation place destination and get relaxed other over there.
Also I came to know that Indian cuisines differs from European as one they require hot spices. And Indians never eat beef because a cow is sacred animal and generally respected.