india is in the south asia region of the world.
india is in the south asia region of the world.
what region of the world is india in?
south asia
the history of kamatapur is not properly represented in modern day historical writings. unfortunately, it's not part of any post-colonial nationalistic history of the indian subcontinent. the history of kamatapur is a partial history of present west bengal, assam, bihar, meghalaya of india, bangladesh, bhutan, and nepal. the disappearance of kamatapur as a region and the emergence of assamese and bengali, two language-based nationalism is the main reason behind the absence and non-representation of the history of kamatapur. however, a glimpse into the pages of history books, particularly assam, tells the rich and colourful history of kamatapur without any doubt. kamatapur is the other name of ancient kamrup kingdom, medieval kamrup kamata or koch kamata kingdom and the native koch bihar (cooch behar) state of british india. when the kingdom of kamrup of south asia was invaded by tughril khan malik yuzbeg, the capital of the kingdom was transferred from kamrup nagar (north guwahati) to kamatapur (koch behar). from that time onward this kingdom was known as kamata or kamrup-kamata kingdom. at that time the kingdom of kamata comprised areas of assam and undivided bengal. kamata was ruled by different rulers of different dynasties from the period of a mid 13th century to the 15th century, until the rise of the koch dynasty. being at the entry point of present northeast india the kingdom of kamata had to face the invaders coming from both indian and bhutan side. an attack on kamata by sultan barbak in the mid 15th century was resisted by the then ruler of kamatapur chakradhvaj. later at the end 15th century during the reign of nilambar (son of chakradhvaj), the kingdom was attacked by the ruler of bengal (gaura), hussain shah. hussain shah destroyed the capital kamatapur and established an afghan colony over there. the people and the bhuyans (land lords) of kamata united under the able leadership of bishwa singha, an ambitious koch youth from present kokrajhar of assam and throne way the afghan colony from kamatapur. bishwa singha established the koch dynasty in kamatapur in the early of 16th century and brought political stability in the kamrup kamata region. after bishwa singha, his elder son nara singha ruled kamata for a while till his bother naranaryan ascended the throne. narnarayan, with the help of his bother chilarai (also minister and commander in chief of the koch kamata army), established the koch sovereignty almost on entire northeast indian kingdoms (assam, manipur, tripura, khasi, jayantiya etc.) and established a cordial relationship with the mughal. this period of koch rule is regarded as the golden period in the history of the region since many valuable literary works were completed under the patronage of narnarayan. sankardev, the great scholar and saint of that time composed most of his major work under the patronage of these two brothers. after the death of chilarai, kamata kingdom was split into two parts between raghudev narayan, son of chilarai and naranaryan as koch kamata (also koch behar) and koch hajo (kamrup). the partition weakened the power of the koches. the koch hajo kingdom suffered several partitions in the later period and smaller kingdoms like bijni, darang and beltola emerged from koch hajo. the koch kamata or the koch behar kingdom became smaller and lost its sovereignty to the mughals of india. it should be mentioned here that the independent-minded koches always tried to retain their sovereignty. in 1773, during the rule of dharmendra narayan koch behar came under british india by a treaty were british agreed to drive away the bhutiyas from the kingdom. thus kamrup kamata kingdom became a princely state of british india. the territories were gradually lost to the british due to various conspiracy and politics and when koch behar joined the indian domain on 28 august 1949 it was only a symbolic version of the vast kamrup kamta kingdom of the 16th century. it was hoped that koch behar would soon become an indian state like other princely states of british india, but unfortunately koch behar was merged as a district of present west bengal of india, despite opposition from the people of koch behar.
rajbongshi people
in the 21st century, there has been recognition among policymakers and economists of the region that the main stumbling block for economic development of the northeastern region is the disadvantageous geographical location. it was argued that globalisation propagates deterritorialisation and a borderless world which is often associated with economic integration. with 98 percent of its borders with china, myanmar, bhutan, bangladesh and nepal, northeast india appears to have a better scope for development in the era of globalisation. as a result, a new policy developed among intellectuals and politicians that one direction the northeastern region must be looking to as a new way of development lies with political integration with the rest of india and economic integration with the rest of asia and oceania, with north, east and southeast asia, micronesia and polynesia in particular, as the policy of economic integration with the rest of india did not yield much dividends. with the development of this new policy, the government of india directed its look east policy towards developing the northeastern region. this policy is reflected in the year end review 2004 of the ministry of external affairs, which stated that: "india’s look east policy has now been given a new dimension by the upa government. india is now looking towards a partnership with the association of southeast asian nations asean countries, both within bimstec and the india-asean summit dialogue as integrally linked to economic and security interests, particularly for india’s east and north east region."
northeast india