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 Area:
78,438sq.km
Capital:
Dispur
Districts: 23
Language: Assamese,
(Bengali for Barak valley)
Population:
22,414,322
Males:
11,579,693
Females:
10,834,629
Literacy: 53.42%
Assam, the eastern most state of
the Indian sub-continent,
extends from 22o19' to 28o16'
North Latitude and 89o42' to
96o30' East Longitude between
the foot hills of the Eastern
Himalayas and the Patkai and
Naga Ranges. Assam is bordered
in the North and East by the
Kingdom of Bhutan and Arunachal
Pradesh. Along the south lies
Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram.
Meghalaya lies to her
South-West, Bengal and
Bangladesh to her West. Assam is
connected with the rest of the
Indian Union by a narrow
corridor in West Bengal that
runs for 56km below the
foothills of Bhutan and Sikkim.
PHYSIOGRAPHY
The state is divided
into three broad geographic
units:
1.The lower and central Assam
hills, known as the Shillong
Plateau
2.The Barail ranges and the low
hilly terrains of Mizo hills
3.The Alluvial valley of
Brahmaputra, Dhansiri and the
Barak river
(I) The lower and central Assam
range which includes, from west
to east, the Garo, Khasi,
Jaintia and the outlying Mikir
hills are in reality a plateau
or table-land. The general
height of the plateau ranges
between 3,000ft and 6,000ft. The
Khasi and
 Jaintai hill portion
of the plateau are comparatively
higher and flatter than the Garo
and Mikir hills on the west and
northeast. The highest peak of
the plateau is the Shillong peak
(6450 ft).
(II) The lofty Barail ranges,
also known as the North Cachar
hills, are separated from the
Shillong plateau on the
Northwest by a system of narrow
valleys. Tectonically, the
Barails form a south westerly
extension of the mountain chain
of Nagaland and western Burma.
It is this chain of mountain
that separates the valley of
Irrawaddy and Chindwin of Burma
from the valley of Brahmaputra
and the Meghna. The Patkai, Naga
and Manipur hills and the Mizo
hills, form part of this great
mountain system. The Mizo hills
consist of a belt of North-South
trending ridges with intricate
valleys, with an average height
of 3,000ft.
(III) The alluvial plains of
Assam consist of two distinct
parts:
a) the valley of the Brahmaputra
and its tributaries and b) the
Barak valley.
These are separated from each
other by the water shed of the
Shillong plateau and the Barail
ranges.
The Brahmaputra valley separates
the sub-Himalayan foothills from
the Shillong plateau and the
Patkai-Naga hill ranges. The
Mizo hills and the Barail ranges
die out towards the west and
south west into the plains of
Cachar, which is a part of
Surma-Kusiyara valley.
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