Northeast India

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

The earliest settlers may have been Austroasiatic speakers from Southeast Asia, followed by Tibeto-Burman speakers from China, and by 500 BCE Indo-Aryan speakers from the Gangetic Plains as well as Kra–Dai speakers from southern Yunnan and Shan State. Archaeological researchers believe that early settlers of Northeast India had domesticated several important plants. Historians believe that the 100 BCE writings of Chinese explorer Zhang Qian indicate an early trade route via Northeast India. The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea mentions a people called Sêsatai in the region, who produced malabathron (cinnamon-like aromatic leaves, dried and used as a flavouring agent), so prized in the old world. Ptolemy's Geographia (2nd century CE) calls the region Kirrhadia, apparently after the Kirata population. In the early historical period (most of the first millennium CE), Kamarupa straddled most of present-day Northeast India. Xuanzang, a travelling Chinese Buddhist monk, visited Kamarupa in the 7th century CE. He described the people as "short in stature and black-looking", whose speech differed a little from mid-India and who were of simple but violent disposition. He wrote that the people in Kamarupa knew of Sichuan, which lay to the kingdom's east beyond a treacherous mountain.

Reader's Guide

Northeast India's significance is rooted in its strategic location and historical events. In the early 19th century, both the Ahom and the Manipur kingdoms fell to a Burmese invasion, and the ensuing First Anglo-Burmese War resulted in the entire region coming under British control. After Indian Independence in 1947, the Northeastern region consisted of Assam and the princely states of Tripura Kingdom and Manipur Kingdom. Manipur and Tripura were made Union Territories in 1956 and attained statehood in 1972. Nagaland attained statehood in 1963, Meghalaya in 1972. Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram became full-fledged states on 20 February 1987, carved out of Assam. Sikkim was integrated as the eighth North Eastern Council state in 2002. During World War II, the Japanese launched an offensive in March 1944 aimed at capturing Imphal and Kohima. The Allied forces under Field Marshal William Slim held firm, adopting aggressive tactics including defensive "boxes" and jungle warfare. The battles resulted in a decisive defeat for the Japanese, who suffered heavy casualties and were forced to retreat, marking a turning point in the Burma Campaign. In the Sino-Indian War of 1962, China captured much of the North-East Frontier Agency, but on 21 November 1962 declared a unilateral ceasefire and withdrew 20 kilometres behind the McMahon Line. The term "Seven Sister States" was coined by journalist Jyoti Prasad Saikia in January 1972 during a radio talk show in Tripura. The region's geography includes the Eastern Himalaya, the Patkai, and the Brahmaputra and Barak valley plains, with a humid subtropical climate and some of India's last remaining rainforests. Reserves of petroleum and natural gas are estimated to constitute a fifth of India's total potential.

Did You Know?

• India's first oil well was dug in Northeast India in 1865, in Digboi, Assam.
• The region houses one of the notable ophiolites in the world.
• The term 'Seven Sister States' was coined by journalist Jyoti Prasad Saikia in January 1972 during a radio talk show in Tripura.
• Kangchenjunga, the third highest mountain peak in the world at 8,586 m, lies between Sikkim and Nepal.
• The region's high rainfall averages around 10,000 millimetres (390 in) and above.