North India, known natively as Uttar Bhārat/Aryavarta (Devanagari: उत्तर भारत/आर्यवर्त, Nastaleeq: اُتر بھارت) or Shumālī Hindustān (Devanagari: शुमाली हिन्दुस्तान, Nastaleeq: شُمالی ھندوستان), is a loosely defined region consisting of the northern part of India. But in a broader sense, North India includes northern and most of eastern India, the Indus Valley of Pakistan. The exact meaning of the term varies by usage. The dominant geographical features of North India are the Indo-Gangetic Plain and the Himalayas, which demarcate the region from Tibet and Central Asia. North India has been the historical center of the Maurya, Gupta, Mughal, Maratha, Sikh and British Indian Empires. It has a diverse culture, and includes the Hindu pilgrimage centers of Char Dham, Haridwar, Mathura, Allahabad and Varanasi, the Buddhist Mahabodhi Temple, the Sikh Golden Temple and the Muslim pilgrimage destination of Ajmer, as well as world heritage sites such as the Valley of flowers, Khajuraho, Bhimbetka Caves, Qutb Minar and the Taj Mahal.
Read more about North India: Geography, Demographics, Languages, Flora and Fauna, Places of Interest, Universities in North India, Economy
Famous quotes containing the words north and/or india:
“I felt that he, a prisoner in the midst of his enemies and under the sentence of death, if consulted as to his next step or resource, could answer more wisely than all his countrymen beside. He best understood his position; he contemplated it most calmly. Comparatively, all other men, North and South, were beside themselves.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“India has 2,000,000 gods, and worships them all. In religion other countries are paupers; India is the only millionaire.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)