Gateway to the land of the dawn-lit mountains — India's most biodiverse frontier
Itanagar is the capital of Arunachal Pradesh, India's largest northeastern state — a remote, mountainous region bordering China, Bhutan, Myanmar, and the Assam plains, and one of the most biodiverse places on Earth. The state has more plant species than all of Europe combined, and its forests hold the last truly wild tigers in India. The 26 major tribes that inhabit the state maintain vibrant living cultures: the Apatani terrace farmers of the Ziro Valley, the headhunting Konyak Naga, and the Buddhist Monpa people of Tawang each represent entirely distinct worlds. Special permits are required…
Arunachal Pradesh has been inhabited since Neolithic times, and archaeological evidence of early rice cultivation has been found in the Ziro Valley. The region was never effectively colonised by any outside power — the Ahom kingdom of Assam controlled the foothills but never the highlands. The McMahon Line, drawn at the 1914 Shimla Convention, defined the border between British India and Tibet; China does not recognise it, claiming most of Arunachal Pradesh as 'South Tibet' (Zangnan). The 1962 Sino-Indian War was fought largely on Arunachal territory. The state was separated from Assam and gi…