International Science Community Association International Research Journal of Social Sciences 2319 - 3565 4 1 2015 January 14 Ethnic and Cultural Ties between Northeast India and China: Insights from the Past 44 47 EN Moinak Maiti 1 MBA Banking Technology, PondicherryCentral University, INDIA Plabita Saikia 1 P.G. Dept. of Law, Gauhati University, Guwahati, Assam- 781014 INDIA Bhosale SavitaG. 1 Department of Studies in Sociology, Karnataka State Women’s University, Bijapur, Karnataka State, INDIA Korishetti VijayaB. 2 Kaur Kuldeep 1 Department of Education, Panjab University, Chandigarh, INDIA Kumar Pushpendra 1 International Institute for Population Sciences, Deonar, Mumbai, INDIA Gupta Abha 2 Centre for the Study of Regional Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, INDIA TrillanesOlea Melanio 1 College of Sciences and Environment, Mindanao State University at Naawan, PHILIPPINES Olea AkihiroNohara 2 Das SailenD. 1 Department of Political Science, Assam University (Diphu Campus), Karbi Anglong, Assam-782462, INDIA > Research Paper 2014 11 2 2015 January 14 Belonging to the great trans-Himalayan region, India’s Northeast is a multinational habitat. Being an integral of the Himalayas, scholars believe, this region makes up one of the cradles of human civilizations. Due to extensive migrations from the surrounding East and Southeast Asian regions and invasions from Burma and plains of India in the past, Northeast India’s ethnic composition has become a unique one and it turned into a store house of nationalities. Many of the tribes in the region claim to be descendents of the Indo-Mongoloid populace of Mongolia, Tibet, China, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand. Therefore, this region can be argued to be a ‘Mongoloid India’ and culturally it is a part of the Southeast Asia. Northeast India represents an ethnological transition zone between India and neighbouring China, Myanmar, Bhutan and Bangladesh. This paper focuses especially on revealing out the ethnic and cultural affinities that Northeast India shares with the other part of the Himalayas, esp. China. It shows that ethnically and culturally the regions shares proximity with China on various fronts. And it argues that on the basis of such similarities, in present times, India could develop a strong relationship with China involving the Northeast region. This paper is based on secondary sources and for the purpose historical-analytical methodology has been applied. Copyright@ International Science Community Association