The Himalayas of India
The Outer Himalayas (the siwalik Range)
The southernmost of the three mountain belts are the Outer Himalayas, also called the siwalik (or Shiwalik) Range. Crests in the Siwaliks, averaging from 3,000 to 5,000 feet (900 to 1,500 meters) in elevation, seldom exceed 6,500 feet (2,000 meters). The range narrows as it moves east and is hardly discernible beyond the Duars, a plain's region in West Bengal state. Interspersed in the Siwaliks are heavily cultivated flat valleys (duns) with a high population density. To the south of the range is the Indo-Gangetic Plain. Weakly inducted, largely deforested, and subject to heavy rain and intense erosion, the Siwaliks provide much of the sediment transported onto the plain.
The Lesser Himalayas
To the north of the Siwaliks and separated from them by a fault zone, the Lesser Himalayas (also called the Lower or Middle Himalayas) rise to heights ranging from 11,900 to 15,100 feet (3,600 to 4,600 meters). Their ancient name is Himachal (Sanskrit: hima, “snow,” and acal, “mountain”). The mountains are composed of both ancient crystalline and geologically young rocks, sometimes in a reversed stratigraphic sequence because of thrust faulting. The Lesser Himalayas are traversed by numerous deep gorges formed by swift-flowing streams (some of them older than the mountains themselves), which are fed by glaciers and snowfields to the north.
INDIA
India is one of the oldest civilizations in the world, with a kaleidoscopic variety and rich cultural heritage. It has achieved all-round socio-economic progress during the last 65 years of its Independence. India has become self-sufficient in agricultural production and is now one of the top industrialized countries in the world and one of the few nations to have gone into outer space to conquer nature for the benefit of the people. It covers an area of 32, 87,263 sq. km, extending from the snow-covered Himalayan heights to the tropical rain forests of the south. As the 7th largest country in the world, India stands apart from the rest of Asia, marked off as it is by mountains and the sea, which give the country a distinct geographical entity. Bounded by the Great Himalayas in the north, it stretches southwards and, at the Tropic of Cancer, tapers off into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal on the east and the Arabian Sea on the west. As you travel, India offers a range of vast tourism choices, diverse in land and nature, people, tribes, cuisine, faiths, dance forms, music, arts, crafts, adventure, sport, spirituality, history; even these vary as you journey from one state to another. As a country, India has achieved all-round socio-economic progress in the last 70 years of independence. The change is clearly visible in the Tier I and Tier II cities. However, the fascinating aspect lies in the stark difference as you travel through the new and old parts of its cities. From world-class airports and hotels, luxurious shopping malls, restaurants, pubs and cafe's to overcrowded streets and alleyways, in the same cities, filled with thousands of little shops offering every possible modern and ethnic product and native street food is a fascinating experience.
HISTORY OF INDIA
The Indian Peninsula stands apart from the rest of Asia, bordered as it is by mountains and the sea, which gives the country a distinct geographical entity. Based on the phases of evolution of the country and its people, the history of India can be categorized in three major categories:
Ancient History
India's history and culture is dynamic, spanning back to the beginning of human civilization. It begins with a mysterious culture along the Indus River and in farming communities in the southern lands of India. The history of India is punctuated by constant integration of migrating people with the diverse cultures that surround India. Available evidence suggests that the use of iron, copper and other metals was widely prevalent in the Indian subcontinent at a fairly early period, which is indicative of the progress that this part of the world had made. By the end of the fourth millennium BC, India had emerged as a region of highly developed civilization.
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