n.
State (pop., 2001 prelim.: 26,638,407), northeastern India.
With an area of 30,285 sq mi (78,438 sq km), Assam borders Bhutan and Bangladesh and Arunachal Pradesh , Nagaland , Manipur , Mizoram , Meghalaya , and West Bengal states; its capital is Dispur . A strong independent kingdom was founded there in the 13th century by invaders from Myanmar (Burma) and China; it reached its zenith in the early 18th century. The British took control in the early 19th century. In the division of India (1947), Assam lost some territory to Pakistan. Beginning in the 1960s, four new states
Nagaland, Meghalaya, Mizoram, and Arunachal Pradesh
were created from land within Assam. The Brahmaputra River valley is its dominant physical feature. The population consists of Indo-Iranian and Asian peoples; the most widely spoken language is Assamese.