The Northeast: The evolution of the idea of a region

Abstract

The Northeast is now an officially recognised name for a region comprising seven contiguous states, plus the detached state of Sikkim. The article examines how the name evolved in official and scholarly writing, while, in fact, no such region can be justified either by any affinity among its individual parts or by culture, political history, languages, social structure or economic ties. It is argued that such a concept may blur the understanding that each of the region’s distinct parts requires for its problems and aspirations.