The Impact of Geography on Indian History

It is generally said that history has two eyes – one is chronology and the other is geography. In other words time and space are significant factors in determining the historical process. In particular, a country’s geography largely determines its historical events. The history of India is also influenced by its geography. Hence, the study of Indian geographical features contributes to the better understanding of its history.

The Indian subcontinent is a well-defined geographical unit. It may be divided into three major regions: the Himalayan Mountains, the Indo-Gangetic Plains and the Southern Peninsula. There are five countries in the subcontinent – India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan. India is the largest among them and it comprises twenty-eight states and six Union Territories. According to the 2001 Census, the population of India is over one hundred crores.

The Himalayan Mountains

The Himalayan Mountains are situated on the north of India. Starting from the Pamir in the extreme northwest of India, the mighty Himalayan range extends towards northeast. It has a length of nearly 2560 kilometres with an average breadth of 240 to 320 kilometres. The highest peak of the Himalayas is known as Mount Everest with its height being 8869 metres. It acts as a natural wall and protects the country against the cold arctic winds blowing from Siberia through Central Asia. This keeps the climate of northern India fairly warm throughout the year. The Himalayan region is mostly inhospitable in winter and generally covered with snow.

It was considered for a long time that the Himalayas stood as a natural barrier to protect India against invasions. But, the passes in the northwest mountains such as the Khyber, Bolan, Kurram and Gomal provided easy routes between India and Central Asia. These passes are situated in the Hindukush, Sulaiman and Kirthar ranges. From prehistoric times, there was a continuous flow of traffic through these passes. Many people came to India through these passes as invaders and immigrants. The Indo-Aryans, the Indo-Greeks, Parthians, Sakas, Kushanas, Hunas and Turks entered India through these passes. The Swat valley in this region formed another important route. Alexander of Macedon came to India through this route. Apart from invading armies, missionaries and merchants came to India using these routes. Therefore, these passes in the northwest mountains had facilitated trade as well as cultural contacts between India and the Central Asia.

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