Tripura [key], state (2001 provisional pop. 3,191,168), 4,036 sq mi (10,453 sq km), NE India, bordered by Bangladesh on the north, west, and south, and on the east by the states of Assam and Mizoram. The capital is Agartala. Tripura lies in a mountainous region but has lush lowlands with cane brakes, swamps, and dense jungles. The population, which is mainly engaged in agriculture, is predominantly Hindu. Bengali is the main language. Tripura is governed by a chief minister and cabinet responsible to an elected unicameral legislature. The states of Assam, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur, and Tripura and the union territories of Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh have a common governor appointed by India's president. The 16th-century Hindu temple at Radhakishorepur is much visited.
The region was the center of a long-lived kingdom that reached its apogee in the 15th cent. Though the region was annexed by the Mughal empire in 1733 and passed under British rule in the 19th cent., the original kingdom did not disappear until it joined India in 1949. Tripura became a union territory in 1956 and a state in 1972. In the 1970s many Bengali-speaking immigrants began arriving from Bangladesh; by the 1980s their presence had led to clashes with indigenous tribes, and sparked a armed indigenous separatist movement.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Indian Political Geography
