Assam is a land of about 25 million people situated in the northeast corner of India. The principal language of Assam is Assamese although a large number of other languages are spoken. Assam comprises an area of 78,523 square kilometers (30,318 square miles). Except for a narrow corridor running through the foothills of the Himalayas that connects the state with West Bengal, Assam is almost entirely isolated from India. The capital of Assam, is Dispur, a suburb of Guwahati in 1972.
Assam is a land with an illustrious recorded history going back to the 4th century BC. Assam was an independent kingdom throughout all of history till the end of the first quarter of the 19th century when the British conquered the kingdom and annexed it to British India. The current state capital of Assam, Guwahati, known in ancient time as Pragjyotishpura or The Eastern City of Light, was the capital of Kamrup which finds frequent mention in the Great Hindu Epic Mahabharata and other Sanskrit volumes and historical lores.
Land in Assam
Climate
The climate of Assam is characterised by its extreme humidity. Its most distinguishing feature is the copious rainfall between March and May at a time when precipitation in upper India is at its minimum. Climatically the year may be divided into the cold season and the rainy. The cold weather lasts from October to February and the rest of the year is rainy. The southwest monsoon begin from middle of June. The neighbourhood of Cherapunji and Mawsynram are known to receive the highest rainfall in the world.
Soil
Assam's soil been classified into the following three types - red loam soil, lateritic soil and alluvial soil. The entire Mizo hills, part of Cachar, Garo, Khasi-Jaintia hills and Sibsagar are capped by red loam soil. A small part of Cachar, large areas of Khasi and Jaintia hills, part of Sibsagar and Nowgong are covered by lateritic soil.
Rivers
Assam is endowed with extensive river system consisting of the Brahmaputra, the Kusiyara and the Barak and their tributaries. All the rivers in Assam are liable to floods, mainly because they receive heavy rainfall within a short time. These rivers are in their early stage of maturity and are very active agents of erosion. The river waters collect a tremendous amount of silt and other debris and raise the level of the river beds.