Early States in North East India

The origins and development of the early states and politics (technically termed by some scholars in social sciences as ‘state formations’) in pre-colonial Northeast India is considered a fascinating area for studies and research not only for the multiplicity of the autonomous socio-political entities and the ethnic and cultural diversity of the region but also for the existence of various typologies of polities. Besides the pristine (indigenously emerging from ethnic social base) and secondary (established by conquest) states that had developed into monarchies of kingdoms, there were a large number of other formations which were at various levels and development and some among which could have developed into early stated had the process and not been arrested by the colonial interventions in the nineteenth century. Early state in North-East India emerges form the papers presented in a national seminar organized by the Department of History, North East Hill University, Shillong, for an inter disciplinary study of the subject.