Gondwana, India

Gondwana ( Dravidian Land of Gond ) is a historical region in central India. It is named after the Gond, a nation that lives here.

Geography

The core area of the historic Gondwana lay south of the Ganges and included the eastern region of Vidarbha today the State of Maharashtra to the north adjoining areas of Madhya Pradesh and the western part of Chhattisgarh. To Gondwana in the broader sense also included parts of northern Andhra Pradesh, and western Orissa.

The rough and mountainous area is part of the northern Deccan and has an average elevation of 600 to 700 meters. Geologically, the area is - except for a few from the Permian and the Triassic -derived parts - mainly of Precambrian rock. Part of it is overlain by alluvial sediments in the west additionally with igneous basalt of the Deccan Traps. For the first time some of the earliest rock formations of the supercontinent Gondwana were examined on the territory of today's state of Orissa. As a result of the proposed name for the former Gondwana super continent in the southern hemisphere by the geologist Eduard Suess.

The climate is hot and semi-arid. The natural vegetation consists of dry monsoon forests and shrubs, large areas are covered by forests and are home to several national parks, where populations of king tigers live.

History

The area was dominated by the 14th to the 18th century by the Gond dynasties that were independent even during the Mughal Empire. In the 18th century, the Marathas conquered Gondwana, Gond and many fled to the mountain. Between 1818 and 1853 large parts of Gondwana were incorporated into the British Empire, until Indian independence in 1947 but ruled some of the Gond Rajas.

Still lives in the area of the historic Gondwana, a high proportion of India's indigenous people ( adivasis ), they include the Gond. Strains, which are considered by the Government of India as socially and economically disadvantaged, are the majority in many districts. At present, occur sporadically against dominant structures directed local political movements, so the party Gondwana Ganatantra Party was founded in 1991 in Madhya Pradesh.