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Meghalaya is mountainous, and it is the rainiest state of India. The word Meghalaya means, "abode of the clouds". Meghalaya is one of the Seven Sister States of northeast India. The state of Meghalaya is mountainous, with stretches of valley and highland plateaus, and it is geologically rich.
- Meghalaya Legislative Assembly
The Meghalaya Legislative Assembly is the unicameral...
- Matrilineal Society of Meghalaya
Khasi women. Multiple tribes in the state of Meghalaya in...
- Chief Minister
The Chief Minister of Meghalaya is the chief executive of...
- Khasi People
The Khasi people are an ethnic group of Meghalaya in...
- Shillong
Shillong ( English: / ʃɪˈlɒŋ /, [5] [6] Khasi: [ʃɨlːɔːŋ]) is...
- Outline
The following outline is provided as an overview of and...
- Meghalaya Legislative Assembly
- Overview
- Relief and drainage
- Climate
- Plant and animal life
- People
- Agriculture
- Resources and power
- Manufacturing
Meghalaya, state of India, located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bounded by the Indian state of Assam to the north and northeast and by Bangladesh to the south and southwest. The state capital is the hill town of Shillong, located in east-central Meghalaya.
Meghalaya—alaya (“abode”) and megha (“of the clouds”)—occupies a mountainous plateau of great scenic beauty. It became a state in 1972. Area 8,660 square miles (22,429 square km). Pop. (2011) 2,964,007.
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Meghalaya is an upland area formed by a detached block of the Deccan plateau. Its summits vary in elevation from 4,000 to 6,000 feet (1,220 to 1,830 metres). The Garo Hills in the west rise abruptly from the Brahmaputra River valley to about 1,000 feet (300 metres) and then merge with the Khasi Hills and Jaintia Hills, adjacent highland systems tha...
The climate of Meghalaya is generally mild. In August the mean temperature at Shillong (in the Khasi Hills) is in the low 70s F (about 21–23 °C); it falls to the upper 40s F (about 8–10 °C) in January.
One of the world’s wettest regions is found in Meghalaya—Cherrapunji, which has an average annual precipitation of about 450 inches (11,430 mm) during monsoon season (from May to September). (Rainfall at Cherrapunji may be exceeded, however, by that at Mawsynram, a village directly west of Cherrapunji, where rainfall totals of some 700 inches [17,800 mm] per year have been recorded.) Annual rainfall in Shillong, only about 50 miles (80 km) from Cherrapunji, is about 90 inches (2,290 mm). During the winter months (December to February), the climate is relatively dry.
Meghalaya is blanketed in lush forests, and pines, sals, and bamboo are plentiful. Other species include oak, birch, beech, and magnolia. Elephants, tigers, leopards, deer, wild pigs, gaurs (wild bison), mithan (or gayals, the domesticated form of the gaur), wolves, anteaters, monkeys, apes, squirrels, snakes, hares, and sambar deer are all found in the state. Birds in Meghalaya include peacocks, partridges, pigeons, hornbills, jungle fowls, mynas, and parrots.
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Most of the inhabitants of Meghalaya are Tibeto-Burman (Garos) or Mon-Khmer (Khasis) in origin, and their languages and dialects belong to these groups. The Khasis are the only people in India who speak a Mon-Khmer language. Khasi and Garo along with Jaintia and English are the state’s official languages; other languages spoken in the state include Pnar-Synteng, Nepali, and Haijong, as well as the plains languages of Bengali, Assamese, and Hindi.
Christianity, Hinduism, and animistic forms of Hinduism are the major religions in the area. There are also a small minority of Muslims and even smaller groups of Buddhists and Sikhs.
Agriculture is the dominant economic activity of the state. The main crops grown in Meghalaya are rice, millet, corn (maize), potatoes, pepper, chilies, cotton, ginger, jute, betel nuts, fruits (including oranges and mangoes), and vegetables. Communal land ownership is common, but jhum (shifting cultivation) has eroded the soil.
Meghalaya has abundant but untapped natural resources, including coal, limestone, kaolin, feldspar, quartz, mica, gypsum, bauxite, and other minerals. Its sillimanite deposits (a source of high-grade ceramic clay) are reputedly the best in the world and account for almost all of India’s sillimanite output. Electricity is produced through several hy...
Meghalaya has no heavy industries; small-scale industries include the manufacture of cement, plywood, and foodstuffs.
Meghalaya (Abode of Clouds in Sanskrit, pronounced "meg-hah-lah-yah") is one of the seven North-Eastern states of India. Famous for its high rainfall, subtropical forests and biodiversity, it is abutted by Assam in the north and east and by Bangladesh in the south.
Meghalaya (Bengali: মেঘালায়া, ভারত) is a state within the Republic of India. Occupying an area of 8,660 mi² (22,429 km²), bigger than the State of Israel but smaller than Belize. Its capital is Shillong. Meghalaya's population is 2,318,822. The population of Shillong was 314,610 in 2001.
- 22,429 km² (8,660 sq mi)
- India
- 2,966,889
- Northeast India
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Meghalaya is a state in northeast India. Meghalaya was formed on 21 January 1972 by carving out two districts from the state of Assam: (a) the United Khasi Hills and Jaintia Hills and (b) the Garo Hills. The estimated population of Meghalaya in 2014 was 3,211,474.
