Himachal Pradesh is situated in the Western Himalayan belt of Northern India. To its north are Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. In the northeast is the mountainous region of Tibet where as in the southeast is Uttar Pradesh. In the south are the plains of Punjab and Haryana while Punjab and Jammu stretch out to meet in the west. The state of Himachal Pradesh was given full statehood in1966. At this time, Shimla, Kullu, Kangra and Lahaul-Spiti areas of Punjab were merged with it. It has 12 districts in all. One can easily identify the different areas of Himachal Pradesh. Right in the middle of the state is the district of Mandi. To its north- east is Kullu; southeast is Shimla; next to Shimla is Bilaspur; to its west is Hamirpur and to the north west of Mandi is Kangra. To the north of Kangra is Chamba while to the north- east of Kullu is Lahaul and Spiti valleys.

Lying to the east of Kullu and to the north east of Shimla, is the district of Kinnaur which borders the rugged mountains of Tibet. To the south of Shimla is the Sirmaur district, a gateway to the mountains of Garhwal in Uttar Pradesh, Una district lies to the south west of Hamirpur.

The eastern district of Shimla has steep mountains while the western district of Kangra has gentle valleys climbing steeply up to the snow-clad mountains. Today, Himachal Pradesh is a favorite of many foreign tourists as well as the domestic travellers. The entire state is a mountainous region with a thick forest cover, snowy peaks, wide and gentle valleys, rivers rushing down the mountains all over the state and beautiful meadows and lakes. The present Himachal government has taken pains to ensure the tourism of their state. The southern- most part of the state has the Shivalik hills, which quickly give way to the higher and higher peaks of the Himalayas. Some of the rivers that flow through the state are the Spiti River, Chandra River, and Bhaga River, both of the latter two join and move into Kashmir as the Chenab. Then there is the Ravi, Beas as well as the tributaries of the Yamuna namely Giri, Tons and Pabar rivers. The combination of rivers, mountains, valley and meadows at different levels of height make a place for a vast variety of adventure sports.

Most of the population of Himachal Pradesh is Hindu and Buddhist and people speak Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu, English and lots of local Pahari dialects. The people here lead a simple life and are very spiritualistic. Most of the people of the state are fair complexioned and have sharp, Aryan features. The northeastern districts have people who are a mixture of Mongolians and the local race. Kinnaur is said to be the place or home of the Kinnauri's who find mention in the ‘Purans’. The people of the northern districts are Buddhist while those of the southern districts are predominantly Hindus. The entire state is filled with numerous places of pilgrimage and rituals, ceremonies as well as legends, and folklore are plentiful too. The people here are hospitable friendly, carefree, and live with a zest for life. The music of the hills is very harmonious and is based mainly on love themes. The songs and dances are mainly community based and usually dedicated to the local gods and goddesses. Himachal is also well known for its Kangra School of paintings. It has also developed a distinctive and rich tradition of handicrafts. One can find beautiful woodwork, leather embroidery, carpets and woolen textiles, jewelry and metal crafts.

The traditional as well as typical Himachal food is corn, rice beans, pulses, potatoes, yam, wheat and milk products. Meat also forms a part of the diet. Himachal also produces a large variety of fruits including apples, cherries, plums, apricots, peaches, pears and also litchis. One is sure to find a beehive in every home in the rural part of Himachal. These people are very fond of keeping bees.

The people love to celebrate life and every festival of India is celebrated by them. Some of the fairs and festivals of Himachal are famous throughout India. Among them are, the Kullu Dussehra held usually in the month of October, the Shivratri fair of Mandi held in Feb./Mar. Renuka fair, Mani Mahesh Yatra and the Minjar fair.

The modern day Himachali is a tourist friendly person who is quite enthusiastic about his/her region. The government too, organizes festivals and provides facilities for adventure sports like Skiing, Para-Gliding and Hang-Gliding, Trekking, Mountaineering and water sports. Tourism today is a household affair as at least one member of the majority of Himachalis, is in some way connected to the tourism industry. These summer retreats of the pre independence British period, even today attract a fair number of tourists.

The history of Himachal Pradesh can be traced back to two million years, when man used to live on the Himalayan foothills, the Kalpa valley of Kinnaur and the Nalagarh-Suketi region. Other areas too have revealed evidence pointing towards human existence. Around 4000 years ago when the Indus valley had spread through the Saraswati and Ganga plains upto the foot hills of Shivaliks, they forced the Munda speaking Kolorian people of this area, up into the mountains. Slowly over a period of time, they spread throughout the western and central Himalayas and developed their own beliefs, language and customs.

The Aryans, who followed these people and occupied the mid-Himalayan belt, came to be known as the 'Khasas'. They were a warrior tribe and fought amongst themselves and gradually the whole region was split into tribal republics. Some of the prominent tribes of Himachal at that time were Audumbara, Trigarta, Kuluta, Kuninda and the Yaudheya. Near the end of the 4th century BC, the Greeks invaded Himachal. Chandra Gupta Maurya, who brought the whole of Himachal under his control, overthrew them. Later on, the 'Huns' invaded India. During Skandgupta's rule, they were repulsed but after him they managed to occupy Punjab and some parts of Himachal Pradesh. This led to the different tribes breaking free and led to their own small independent principalities. In the 7th century AD, Prabhakara Vardhan defeated the Huns and established his kingdom, which spread further under his son's rule. His son Harsha Vardhan conquered Himachal completely and the state enjoyed prosperity and peace during his region. After his empire disintegrated, the Gurjara-Pratiharas ruled the area. The Vardhan Empire was by now totally finished and so local chiefs came into power. Among these were the Ranas and Thakurs. They kept control of the area between the Ravi and the Yamuna River.

In the latter half of the 10th century AD, the Rajputs, most of who came from the plains of India, invaded the state of Himachal Pradesh. They formed their own states and some of them were-'Trigarta' lying between the Sutlej and the Ravi except Kullu and Jalandhar Doab, 'Jaswan', 'Guler', 'Siba', 'Datarpur', 'Nurpur', 'Chamba', 'Kullu' 'Suket-Mandi', 'Mandi', 'Bilaspur' and many more. There was also the Nalagarh (Hindu) principality and the regions divided amongst the Bara Thakurias (12 lords) and the Athara Thakurias (18 lords). Some other states were Kumansain, Khareti, Delath, Karangla, Kotkhari-Kotgarh, as well as the Bushans-Kinnaur, Sirmur and Lahut and Spiti.

It was the Katoch kingdom of Kangra that first attracted the Sultan Mohammed of Ghazni. At the beginning of the 11th century AD, Ghazni attacked and easily conquered the Kangra fort. It was in the 14th century that Mohammed Bin Tughlag sent an army against the hill chiefs of the Himalayas. He conquered most of Himachal except for the Kangra fort. The Katoch chief gave this area to Sultan Feroze Shah Tughlag in 1398 AD. Amin Timur invaded India. As far as Himachal is concerned, he only conquered Kangra.

Until the reign of Humanpur, the Himachal states were left alone. It was Akbar, who turned his attentions towards the hills. Akbar was interested in military expansion and moreover in a co-mingling of culture and religion. He conquered Kangra and his finance minister named Toder Mal was left to take care of the revenue settlements. None the less, the revolts by the Kangra chiefs continued. The complete subjugation of Kangra took place only under the rule of Emperor Jahangir. During the rule of Shah Jahan, Chander Bhan Chand was conducting guerrilla warfare. In a similar manner, though the Mughal ruler tried to capture places in the districts of Chamba and Sirmaur, the continued struggle by the local chiefs insured that they were not able to set foot permanently.

In the late 15^th century, Guru Nanak the first Sikh Guru, toured the Himalayas as far as Ladakh. He is said to have visited Kangra, Kullu, Lahaul, Spiti, Tibet, China, Sirmaur and Garhwal.

The 10^th Sikh Guru was called Guru Gobind Singh. He shifted his centre of preaching to Paonta Sahib. He appealed for men and horses and warriors to join his crusade against the Mughals. The Rajas of Bilaspur and Nalagarh misunderstood this request and what happened was that the chiefs of the hill states decided to join forces with the Mughals against the Sikhs.

The beginning of the 19th century saw Maharaja Ranjit Singh in Himachal Pradesh. The Gurkhas of Nepal had at the same time established control over Chamba, Nurpur, Kotla, Jasrota, Basdhli, Jaswan, Mandi, Suket and Kullu. The jealousies and hatred amongst the different tribal chiefs of the hill states was the reason why the entire region was unable to fight in unity for its independence. This was why they were unable to hold on against the Sikh forces working against them.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh asked for the payment of tribute or for the surrender of their hill states. Unable to comply, they asked for help from either the Marathas or the Gurkhas or the British. Finally, it was the British who succeeded in controlling them politically and they ruled Himachal with the rest of India right until the country gained independence in 1947.