Arunachal Pradesh is one of the twenty-nine states of India. Located in northeast India, it holds the most north-eastern position among the states in the north-east region of India. Arunachal Pradesh borders the states of Assam and Nagaland to the south, and shares international borders with Bhutan in the west, Myanmar in the east and China in the north. Itanagar is the capital of the state. Aruna
chal Pradesh has territorial disputes with both the PRC and ROC due to its cultural, ethnic and geographic proximity to Tibet. A major part of the state, formerly called the North-East Frontier Agency, is disputed by China as the legality of the Simla Accord is not recognized by it. China claims most of the state as South Tibet. The state is seen to have major potential for hydro power development. Arunachal Pradesh, whose name means Land of the Dawn-Lit Mountains in Sanskrit, is also known as the Orchid State of India or the Paradise of the Botanists. Geographically, it is the largest among the North-east Indian states commonly known as the Seven Sister States. As in other parts of Northeast India, the people native to the state trace their origins to the Tibeto-Burman people. In recent times, large number of migrants from various parts of India and other lands have built extensive economic and cultural ties with the state's population. No reliable population count of the migrant population exists, and the percentage estimating the total actual population accordingly, vary. Arunachal Pradesh has the highest number of regional languages in the Indian subcontinent,[enriched with diverse culture and traditions. PREHISTORY
Neolithic tools found in Arunachal Pradesh indicate that people have been living in the Himalayan region for at least eleven thousand years. The earliest inhabitants of Bhutan and adjoining Himalayan areas of South Asia were the people from Indus Valley Civilization, whose history predates the onset of Bronze Age in South Asia around 3300BC before the coming of other ethnic groups from Tibet and South China some 2,000 years ago. EARLY HISTORY
The history of pre-modern Arunachal Pradesh is unclear. Oral histories possessed to this day by many Arunachali tribes of Tibeto-Burman stock are much richer and point unambiguously to a northern origin in modern-day Tibet. Again corroboration remains difficult. From the point of view of material culture it is clear that most indigenous Arunachali groups align with Burma-area hill tribals, a fact that could either be explainable in terms of a northern Burmese origin or from westward cultural diffusion. According to the Arunachal Pradesh government, the Hindu texts Kalika Purana and Mahabharata mention the region as the Prabhu Mountains of the Puranas, and where sage Parashuram washed away sins, the sage Vyasa meditated, King Bhishmaka founded his kingdom, and Lord Krishna married his consort Rukmini.[13]
Recorded history from an outside perspective only became available in the Ahom and Sutiya chronicles. The Monpa and Sherdukpen do keep historical records of the existence of local chiefdoms in the northwest as well. Northwestern parts of this area came under the control of the Monpa kingdom of Monyul, which flourished between 500 B.C. and 600 A.D. This region then came under the loose control of Tibet and Bhutan, especially in the Northern areas. The remaining parts of the state, especially those bordering Myanmar, were under the control of the Sutiya Kings until the Ahom-Sutiya battle in the 16th century. The Ahoms held the areas until the annexation of India by the British in 1858. However, most Arunachali tribes remained in practice largely autonomous up until Indian independence and the formalisation of indigenous administration in 1947. Recent excavations of ruins of Hindu temples such as the 14th century Malinithan at the foot of the Siang hills in West Siang were built during the Sutiya reign. Another notable heritage site, Bhismaknagar, has led to suggestions that the Idu (Mishmi) had an advanced culture and administration in prehistoric times. Again, however, no evidence directly associates Bhismaknagar with this or any other known culture but the Sutiya rulers held the areas around Bhismaknagar from the 12th to 16th century. The third heritage site, the 400-year-old Tawang Monastery in the extreme north-west of the state, provides some historical evidence of the Buddhist tribal people. The sixth Dalai Lama Tsangyang Gyatso was born in Tawang. GEOGRAPHY
A lake at Sela on the way to Tawang in West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh. A view from Bhalukpong, a small town by the southern reaches of the Himalayas. Arunachal Pradesh is located between 26.28° N and 29.30° N latitude and 91.20° E and 97.30° E longitude and has 83,743 square kilometre area. Most of Arunachal Pradesh is covered by the Himalayas. However, parts of Lohit, Changlang and Tirap are covered by the Patkai hills. Kangto, Nyegi Kangsang, the main Gorichen peak and the Eastern Gorichen peak are some of the highest peaks in this region of the Himalayas. The land is mostly mountainous with the Himalayan ranges running north south. These divide the state into five river valleys: the Kameng, the Subansiri, the Siang, the Lohit and the Tirap. All these are fed by snow from the Himalayas and countless rivers and rivulets. The mightiest of these rivers is Siang, called the Tsangpo in Tibet, which becomes the Brahmaputra after it is joined by the Dibang and the Lohit in the plains of Assam. The Himalayan ranges that extend up to the eastern Arunachal separate it from Tibet. The ranges extend toward Nagaland, and form a boundary between India and Burma in Changlang and Tirap district, acting as a natural barrier called Patkai Bum Hills. They are low mountains compared to the Greater Himalayas. DISTRICTS: Arunachal Pradesh is divided into twenty districts, each administered by a district collector. The districts are:
Tawang District
West Kameng District
East Kameng District
Papum Pare District
Kurung Kumey District
Kra Daadi District
Lower Subansiri District
Upper Subansiri District
West Siang District
Central Siang District
East Siang District
Upper Siang District
Upper Dibang Valley District
Lower Dibang Valley District
Anjaw District
Lohit District
Namsai District
Changlang District
Tirap District
Longding District
MAJOR TOWNS OF ARUNACHAL PRADESH
Below are the major towns in Arunachal Pradesh. Municipal Councils[edit]
Itanagar (including Naharlagun town)
Pasighat
Municipal Boards[edit]
Along (Aalo)
Seppa
Tezu
Daporijo
Namsai
Ziro
Roing
Tawang
Khonsa
Bomdila
Notified Towns[edit]
Jairampur
Deomali
Yingkiong
Changlang
Miao
Basar
Dirang
Anini
Koloriang
Rupa
Boleng
Hawai
Sagalee
Yupia
Doimukh
Gumto
Longding
Pangin
Likabali
Malinithan
Bhalukpong
Nampong
Hayuliang
Palin
Jamin
Bhismaknagar
Akshiganga
