Peninsula, southwestern Gujarat state, west-central India.
Occupying an area of 23,000 sq mi (60,000 sq km), it is bounded by the Arabian Sea on the southwest. It was first occupied in prehistoric times and was settled in the 3nd–2nd millennium BC by Harappan peoples. It was ruled by many great dynasties beginning with the Mauryan empire in the 3rd century BC. The area came under Muslim rule in the 13th century and became part of the Mughal Empire in the 16th century. Many of its small princely states came under British protection after 1820. Made a part of Gujarat state in 1960, it is the site of a national park that contains the last wild Asiatic lions in India.