Northeast India

As Northeast India or Seven Sister States, the northeastern part of India called, comprising the seven states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and Meghalaya. Frequently, Sikkim and the North West Bengal are counted to northeast India.

During the British colonial period, the area of today's seven states of northeastern India belonged to the province of Assam. After independence in 1947, Northeast India came in an isolated position, when the territory of British India was divided into India and Pakistan. Situated between Assam and the rest of India East Bengal came here to Pakistan and made independent in 1971 as Bangladesh. Therefore Northeast India is now connected only by a narrow corridor with the rest of India. In addition to Bangladesh in south-west the area borders with Myanmar to the east as well as to China and Bhutan to the north.

Geography

The area of northeastern India consists of the basin of the Brahmaputra, less than 200 meters above the sea, with the adjacent mountains, to the hill country between East Bengal and Myanmar. The south side of the Himalayas in the north rises up to 7090 meters high Kangto. The eastern boundary of the Brahmaputra basin is the up to 3826 meters high Patkai Mountains. The state of Manipur comprises the south of this mountain. He is dewatered in three directions: to the west of Barak, whose underflow is called Meghna in Bangladesh and there is a major river of the Ganges -Brahmaputra Delta flows. To the south of the approximately 350 -kilometer Kaladan flows through the state of Mizoram and reached at Sittwe in Myanmar, the east coast of the Gulf of Bengal. The Manipur River flows through 768.5 meters above sea level to 287 square kilometers of Loktak Lake and then flows southeast into the Chindwin River, which flows into the Irrawaddy, the largest electricity Myanmar. South of Brahmaputrabeckens extends up to the 1961 meter high Khasi Mountains, which belongs to the State, including its southern slopes of Meghalaya. This south-facing slopes are considered wettest region of the globe.

Population and Culture

In the seven states of northeastern India a total of 45 million people ( 2011 census ). These are less than four percent of the total population of India. The population is very unevenly distributed: while the mountainous areas are sparsely populated, a large part of the population is concentrated on the Brahmaputra level. Thus Assam with 31 million inhabitants, is by far the most populous state of northeastern India.

Northeast India is an ethnically and culturally very heterogeneous area. The main distinction is made ​​between the plains and mountain regions: The Brahmaputra level of Assam is culturally close to the rest of India, as well Südassam and Tripura, which can be attributed historically the bulk region of Bengal. The inhabitants of these areas speak mainly Assamese and Bengali, two Indo-Aryan languages. In contrast, the mountainous regions of northeastern India are hardly been penetrated by the Sanskrit culture. The peoples who settled here their appearance, their languages ​​and their customs by more in common with the inhabitants of Southeast Asia. The population of mountain regions, a large number of small languages ​​is common, belonging mostly to the Tibeto-Burman language family. An intermediate position take the Meitei in the valley region of Manipur. They speak a Tibeto-Burman language, but are culturally closer to the Indian mainstream society.

The inhabitants of the plains of Assam, Manipur Tripuras and the Valley are mostly Hindus. In addition, there is a large Muslim minority. In the mountain regions, however, Christianity is the dominant religion: In Nagaland, Meghalaya and Mizoram and the mountainous region of Manipur, the majority of the population is Christian. This is essentially the result of the mission of American Free Churches. At the borders with Tibet and Burma, there are also smaller Buddhist minorities.

History

Northeast India came as a result of the First Anglo - Burmese War (1824-1826) under British rule. The area was initially part of the Bengal Presidency, before him from 1874, the province of Assam was formed. 1905 Bengal was divided and merged its eastern Assam with the province of East Bengal and Assam. Because the resistance of the Indian population, the partition of Bengal in 1911 but was undone. Manipur and Tripura remained during the British colonial period as a nominally independent princely states under British suzerainty exist.

When India became independent in 1947, East Bengal came to the newly formed nation of Pakistan, before it made ​​itself independent in 1971 as Bangladesh. This placed North East India, which has since been connected only by a narrow land corridor to the rest of the country in an isolated location. At the time of independence Northeast India consisted of Assam with its capital at Shillong, the then covered almost the entire north-east, and Manipur and Tripura, which were initially incorporated as Union Territories in India. As a result, the desire for autonomy of the various hill tribes of Assam has been gradually split: 1963 Nagaland became a separate state. Meghalaya received in 1970 initially autonomy within Assam, before it was elevated to full-fledged state in 1972. In the same year, Manipur and Tripura received the full federal state rights. Also in 1972 have been resolved as a union territories of Assam, before they became full-fledged states of Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram in 1987.

The North East Council ( NEC) 1971 on the coordination of development plans established under the 2001, the Ministry for the Development of Northeast Region (Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region, DONER ) emerged. Sikkim, north of West Bengal is also east of the corridor and also subject to the jurisdiction of DONER. It borders on any of the Seven Sister States and is traditionally not taken into the group because it came to the Indian Union was once the independent kingdom until 1975.

By a law of 1958, the Foreigners (Protected Areas) Order, visiting in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland is allowed for foreigners only with a Protected Area Permit (PAP).

Fauna

The Red Panda ( Ailurus fulgens Latin, Red Panda, Red Panda ) is a very shy, threatened in stock predator that cross-border (still) living in the region. It is now classified as the sole representative of the family of Ailuridaen, is therefore not closely related to the Panda or the small bears.