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This page talks of Arunachal Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh

A Location map of where Arunachal Pradesh is
A Location map of where Himachal Pradesh is

Arunachal Pradesh is one of the seven northeastern states of India. Arunachal Pradesh borders the state of Assam to the south and Nagaland to the south east. Myanmar lies to the east of the state, Bhutan to the west, while the Line of Actual Control separates it from the People's Republic of China to the north. Itanagar is the capital of the state.

Arunachal Pradesh means "land of the dawn-lit mountains" or "land of the rising sun" ("pradesh" means "state" or "region") in reference to its position as the easternmost state of India. Arunachal Pradesh is claimed by the People's Republic of China as an integral part of its territory. The name South Tibet (Zangnan) is often used by Chinese sources to refer to the disputed region.

Most of the people living in Arunachal Pradesh are either of Tibetan or Thai-Burmese origin. Another 15% of the population are immigrants, including 30,000 Bangladeshi and Chakma expatriates, and immigrants from other parts of India, notably Assam and Nagaland.

The first ancestors of the tribal groups migrated from Tibet during the pre-historic period, they were joined by Tai-Burmese counterparts later. Except for the northwestern parts of the state, little is known about the history of Arunachal Pradesh, although the Apatani tribe had legendary knowledge of the history. Recorded history was only available in the Ahom chronicles during the 16th century. The tribal 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, came under the control of the Ahom and the Assamese until the annexation of India by the British in 1858.

Recent excavations of ruins of Hindu temples such as the 14th Malinithan at the foot of the Siang hills in West Siang shed new light on the ancient history of Arunachal Pradesh. Paintings of the Hindu gods and altars remained untouched for many years. They attracted many local pilgrims. Another notable heritage site, Bhismaknagar, suggested that the Idu Mishmi had a local civilisation. The third heritage site, the 400-year-old Tawang monastery in the Tawang district also provides historical evidence of the Buddhist tribal peoples.

In 1913-14, the British administrator, Sir Henry McMahon, drew up the 550-mile McMahon Line as the border between British India and Tibet during the Simla Conference, as Britain sought to advance its line of control and establish buffer zones around its colony in South Asia. The Tibetan and British representatives at the conference agreed to the line, which ceded Tawang and other Tibetan areas to British India; however the Chinese representative refused to accept the line owing to domestic pressures. The Chinese position since then has been that since China was sovereign over Tibet, the line was invalid without Chinese agreement. Furthermore, by refusing to sign the Simla documents, the Chinese Government had escaped according any recognition to the validity of the McMahon Line.

For the first two decades after the Simla Conference, the Survey of India did not show the McMahon Line as the border between British India and Tibet either; only in 1937 did they publish a map showing it as the official boundary; in 1938 the Survey of India published a map showing Tawang as a part of Tibet. In 1944, Britain established administrations in the area, from Dirang Dzong in the west to Walong in the east. Tibet, however, altered its position on the McMahon Line in late 1947 when the Tibetan government wrote a note presented to the newly independent Indian Ministry of External Affairs laying claims to Tibetan districts south of the McMahon Line. The situation developed further as India became independent and the People's Republic of China was established in the late 1940s: with the PRC poised to take over Tibet, India unilaterally declared the McMahon Line to be the boundary in November 1950, and forced the Tibetan administration out of the Tawang area in 1951, despite PRC's protests.

The issue was quiet during the next decade or so of cordial Sino-Indian relations, but erupted again during the Sino-Indian War of 1962. The cause of the escalation into war is still disputed by both Chinese and Indian sources. (See Sino-Indian War.)

During the war in 1962 the PRC captured most of the NEFA. However, China soon declared victory and voluntarily withdrew back to the McMahon Line and returned Indian prisoners of war in 1963. The war has resulted in the termination of barter trade with Tibet, although in 2007 the state government has shown signs to resume barter trade with Tibet.

Of late, Arunachal Pradesh faces threat from terrorist groups, notably the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN), who were believed to have base camps in the districts of Changlang and Tirap. There were occasional reports of these terrorist groups harassing the local people.

Other disputed territories in the Yeti lands, include Lapthal, Kashmir, and Sang which have Pakistan,. China and India, disputing these lands connected to the Himalayas they are all in the West of the mountain range.

Himachal Pradesh formerly the Punjab Hill States, is a mostly mountainous state in northern India. Neighbouring regions are Tibet to the east, Jammu and Kashmir to the north and northwest, Punjab to the southwest, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to the south and Uttarakhand to the southeast. With an area of 55,658 km² (21,490 sq mi), Himachal is one of the smaller states of the country and holds the 17th rank in the list of States and Union Territories of India.

The state capital is Shimla (formerly British India's summer capital under the name Simla), other major towns are Solan, Dharamsala, Kangra, Mandi, Kullu, Chamba, Hamirpur, Dalhousie and Manali. The western Himalayas lie in the north and east and the smaller Shiwalik (or Shivalik) range in the south.

Himachal Pradesh has five major rivers. These are the Sutlej, Ravi, Chenab, Beas and Yamuna.

Himachal Pradesh came under British control in the middle of the 19th century. The British annexed Kangra District, which includes present-day Kangra, Kullu, Hamirpur, and Lahul and Spiti districts, in 1846 at the conclusion of the First Anglo-Sikh War. The remainder of Himachal Pradesh was made up of a number of princely states; see Hill States.

Under the British Raj, Kangra District was part of the British province of Punjab, and the princely states, then known as the Simla Hill States, were under the authority of Punjab until the early 1930s, when the Punjab States Agency was created, under the direct authority of the Governor-General of India. The Punjab Hill States Agency, which included most of the princely states in present-day Himachal Pradesh, was separated from Punjab States Agency in 1936.

India became independent of the United Kingdom in 1947, and Himachal Pradesh was established as a state on April 15, 1948, composed of the territory of some 30 Hill states (including feudatories) that acceded to the Government of India, while Bilaspur remained a separate state in the Indian Union till its merger with Himachal Pradesh on July 1, 1954 by an act of the Indian Parliament.

Himachal became a Part C State under a Lieutenant Governor, with a Legislative Assembly of 36 members and a Cabinet of three ministers in 1951. On July 1, 1954, Bilaspur, another Part C State, was integrated with Himachal Pradesh by an act of the Indian Parliament and the strength of the Assembly was raised to 41 members. In 1956, the States Re-organization Commission recommended the unification of Himachal Pradesh with Punjab. But the people of Himachal Pradesh opposed and the proposal was overruled.

Himachal Pradesh became a union territory on November 1, 1956. The state was enlarged in 1966 by the transfer of the districts of Shimla, Kangra (which included present-day districts of Kangra and Hamirpur), Kullu, Lahul and Spiti, and Una from Punjab state.

Till October 1966, Himachal Pradesh comprised only of six hill districts of Mahasu, Mandi, Chamba, Sirmaur, Bilaspur and Kinnaur. In November 1966, it was expanded with the inclusion of some of the hilly towns of Punjab like Shimla, Kangra, Kullu, Lahaul, Spiti, Nalagarh tehsil of Ambala district, and areas of Hoshiarpur and Gurdaspur districts. Himachal Pradesh was formed into 10 districts and was declared the 18th state of India on January 25, 1971, with Shimla as its capital. The 12 districts of Bilaspur, Chamba, Hamirpur, Kangra, Kinnaur, Kullu, Lahaul & Spiti, Mandi, Shimla, Sirmaur, Solan and Una were re-organized into the districts of the state in 1972-73.