ABSTRACT
Chapter 4 explores the ‘region-making’ process in India’s ‘Northeast’ from a historical perspective. The chapter consists of two parts: the colonial region-making process that highlights the colonial perception and territorial intervention for administrative purposes, and postcolonial development with internal dynamics within Indian Union which reinforces the idea of region in the popular discourse. The Northeast has subsequently captured the popular imagination in India and beyond as a distinct geo-region that radically differentiates the region from the rest of India. The chapter argues that though the region came to be reorganised with new states by the Indian state to suit the present realities, it continues to remain a distinct sub-state collectivity.
