| The stunning grandeur of it's dense
tracts of topical forests, interspersed with emerald patchwork
quilts of paddy and lush tea gardens, showcase the life-giving
largesse of the mighty River Brahmaputra that dominates this
land and its people, as it wends its way from the Manasarovar
Lake in the higher reaches of the Tibetan plateau (as the
Tsangpo) through Arunachal Pradesh (as the Siang), on to the
plains of Assam, the second largest state in the Northeast.
The rich alluvial plains of the Assam valley (100 km at
its widest) enjoy an abundance of natural riches. The state
is the largest producer of timber in the country and has
the oldest oil refinery in India. Its rich bio-diversity
supports an immense range of rare and endangered creatures
such as the one-horned rhinocerous, the golden langur, the
Gangetic dolphin and the clouded leopard.
Flanked by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh in the north and
the east, its southern periphery is bordered by Nagaland,
Manipur and Mizoram. Meghalaya lies in the southwest, and
West Bengal to the West. For six hundred years before the
arrival of the British, the Ahoms ruled Assam from their
state capital of Charaideo near present-day Sibsagar. The
Ahoms were conquerors belonging
to the Shan tribe of Burma. They came through the Patkai
Range, and settled in the Bramhaputra valley after
defeating the Kacharis in 1540AD. Subsequently, they consolidated
their hold over the entire valley by successfully repulsing
a series of invasions by the Mughals and the Bengal Sultans.
In protecting the land from invasions the Ahoms established
an environment for cultural pursuits that were free of any
outside influence. King Rudra Singha is said to have opened
up a trade route between Assam and Tibet and also encouraged
Bengali musicians to stay at his court.
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