User:Chaipau/Assam

Assam /əˈsæm/ (Assamese: অসম) is a northeast Indian state located south of the Eastern Himalayas. Its capital is at Dispur, contiguous with the city of Guwahati. It shares domestic boundaries with the six other Seven Sister States (Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and Meghalaya) and West Bengal and international boundaries with Bhutan and Bangladesh. Assam and the northeastern Indian states are connected to the rest of the country via a 21 km wide band of land in North Bengal called Siliguri Corridor that is squeezed between the borders of Nepal and Bangladesh.

The state consists of the long and narrow Brahmaputra valley, the Barak valley and the Karbi Hills. The natural barriers of the Himalayas in the north, the Shillong Plateau and the Borail range in the south, the Patkai range in the southeast and east have created a pocket where disparate human groups speaking Tibeto-Burmese, Indo-Aryan and Mon-Khmer languages have historically lived in close contact, giving rise to a cultural confluence. High rainfall, annual flooding of the main rivers Brahmaputra and Barak, and their tributaries have created deep tropical Sal tree forests, though much depleted now, that have endowed the state with an extensive biodiversity. The National Parks of Kaziranga, Manas, Pobitora etc are reserved for wild flora and fauna, with the one-horned rhino and tiger conservation being happy successes. Assam also features as one of the last natural habitats for the wild Asian elephant.

Assam traces its political origins to the 4th-12th century Kamarupa Kingdom and owes its name to the 13th-19th century Kingdom of Assam. The medieval kingdom could successfully fend off Mughal interest but finally collapsed to be followed by British rule. The British province of Assam constituted a large fraction of the erstwhile Kamarupa kingdom. Society, economy and governance changed dramatically during the British rule and Assam became a part of the Indian Union in 1950[??]. In the 1970s the states of Meghalaya, Nagaland and Mizoram were carved out and what remained forms the current state.

. also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province (British India), is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country. Assam was one of the original provinces of the British ruled Indian sub-continent and among the original provinces of present day India, having a legislature that dates back to 1937. However, present day Assam has undergone numerous territory alignment changes, with its state map being altered more than any other province's. Known for exquisite natural resources, geography and its important role in India's freedom struggle; Assam has its capital as Dispur, an especialized city circuit region located on the outskirts of its largest metropolis, Guwahati.

Assam is particularly famous for its natural beauty. The landscape includes tea gardens, the river Brahmaputra, and many historical monuments and temples. Swami Vivekananda once said that, "next only to Kashmir, Assam is the most beautiful place in India" A state with an abundance of forest, Assam also has five national parks, around half a dozen other wildlife sanctuaries, and is home to two-thirds of the population of the unique one-horned rhino. When it comes to wildlife, Assam too has successfully conserved the one-horned Indian rhinoceros from near extinction, along with the tiger and numerous species of birds, and it provides one of the last wild habitats for the Asian elephant. It is becoming an increasingly popular destination for wildlife tourism, and Kaziranga and Manas are both World Heritage Sites.

Another aspect that separates Assam from the rest of Indian states is the rich composite culture of the state. Assamese constitute the majority of the state's population but the state has over two dozen other big and small tribal groups with many of them having their own language, writing system, dance forms and traditions.

Geographically, Assam is located south of the eastern Himalayas. Assam comprises the Brahmaputra and the Barak river valleys along with the Karbi Anglong and the Dima Hasao district with an area of 30,285 square miles (78,440 km²). Assam is surrounded by six of the other Seven Sister States: Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya. These states are connected to the rest of India via a narrow strip in West Bengal called the Siliguri Corridor or "Chicken's Neck". Assam also shares international borders with Bhutan and Bangladesh.