EMERGENCE OF HISTORICAL REGIONS

History derives its focus from the concept of space. So, history is regarded as the history of humankind & the environment. Reciprocal exchange between humans and nature began early, where each influenced the other.
The uneven pattern of cultural growth & the differential configuration of historical forces in the different regions were greatly influenced by geography. 
This can be demonstrated through some example like, in the second half of the third millennium BCE , Mesolithic culture was prevalent in Gujarat and at the same time Neolithic pastorals were traversing the landscape of the Deccan. 
 While the mature, advanced Harappan civilization co-existed with these cultures and regions at different levels of growth. 

The Indus & Saraswati basins were colonized in the third millennium BCE. The first agricultural communities of the Deccan, Andhra, Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Gujarat belong essentially to the Iron Age, and can be placed in the second half of the first millennium BCE. The Gangetic north, attracted settlements early but, the forested hills of Central India were never thoroughly colonized and, so, they continued to provide shelter and isolation to tribes at different stages of primitive economy.

In the subcontinent, civilization and a more complex culture with hierarchical social organization reached different areas in different periods and the regional spread of a more advanced material culture was unevenly balanced.

THE NATURE OF THE REGIONS

Another way to classify regions is to understand them in terms of Areas of Perennial Nuclear Regions, Areas of Relative Isolation and Areas of Isolation. 
There is early emergence of some regions as perennial bases of power. These regions witnessed an uninterrupted succession of powerful kingdoms. In contrast, there were other less favoured regions too. 
The availability of resources and the convergence of trade and communication routes have added to their importance. Logically, they have emerged as important centres of power. 

Areas of relative isolation in Central India such as the regions of Bhils, Bastar and the Rajmahal hills, in terms of structure of settlements, agrarian history, social organization and state systems, differed from the nuclear regions. 

Because regions developed historically, the distinction between them is not unalterably fixed. Transformation from one category to the other is possible at a certain point. All natural regions are only areas of possibilities and these possibilities are actualized through human intervention at the stage of their technological attainments.

Thus, history cannot be perceived in terms of geographical determinism. In the first urban civilization of Harappa, there was the active interaction between the environment & social set up that led to the ecological fallout. Harappan civilization, of the Indian subcontinent evolved in a very wide region of the north-west. 

Archaeological evidence indicates extensive use of the plough during this time. They had also begun to add indigenous rainy season crops like rice & pulses to the winter crops of wheat, barley, lentils of West Asian origin. 

The agricultural surplus thus produced permitted the establishment of many towns, where the surplus served to promote further processing and exchange of materials, as well as trade and artisanal activities. Exchange over long distances, as opposed to barter on a small scale, called for maintenance of records, and the Indus Valley civilization offers the first evidence of literacy in Indian history.

The drying up of the Saraswati river, flooding of the Indus, climatic change as evident from palaeobotany, salination of the agricultural soil due to irrigation and over-utilization of the natural resources leading to depletion of the natural vegetation cover: all or some of these led to the collapse of the Indus civilization.

Scholars are giving importance to ecological imbalances as one of the main reasons for the decline of this civilization. This was caused by wearing out of the landscape by continuous human and animal use over a long period of time.

The patterns of historical development and the regional unevenness of the transition to the historical stage suggests the existence of a hierarchy of regions. An understanding of this hierarchy may focus on the differential characteristics of the regions and explain their chronologically phased formation and emergence.   

The "major structure-lines of Indian historical geography" such as the Narmada-Chhota Nagpur line or the line running from Gulf of Cambay to Mathura, constituted by the Aravalis have considerably influenced the pattern of cultural diffusion in the sub-continent. 

There are four great divisions: 1)The Indus plains, prone to influences from Central and West Asia, 2)The Gangetic plains, which begin on the Delhi-Mathura line and have absorbed all kinds of political & cultural influences coming through the north western frontier, 3) The Central Indian intermediate zone, with Gujarat and Odisha as the two extreme points, & 4) Peninsular India, south of the Narmada. 

To the north and west of the Aravali, the overall cultural landscape appears to be different. Only some areas of Rajasthan and Gujarat responded to the mainstream cultural development of the Gangetic valley in the early historical period. 

After the Rig-Vedic period there seems to have been arrested growth in the Punjab. The persistence of non-monarchical janapadas in the region till the Gupta period suggests autonomous development.

 It also indicates weak property in land and poor agricultural growth. The absence of ‘land grant inscriptions’, a feature common in Gupta and post-Gupta times in the rest of the country, from the Punjab plains strengthens the assumption. 

Brahmanism never had deep roots in the Punjab plains, nor for that matter did the Varna structure become wholly acceptable. The Brahmanas rarely influenced the society & the Kshatriyas soon faded out. The Khatris who claim to be Kshatriyas are usually found in professions associated with the Vaisya. 

Punjab thus provides a good example of both late historical transition & regional variations from the perspective of the Ganga Valley. Similarly, the Narmada-Chhota Nagpur line is a major divide for, barring Gujarat, Maharashtra and Orissa, the rest of the cultural regions to the South of this line have a somewhat different individuality being largely influenced by the  Tamil plains in the formative period.

They share a separate zone of kinship organisation and caste hierarchy. Maharashtra, because of its contiguity with Malwa, which shares the Deccan trap and has been the bridge between the Ganga Valley and the Deccan, has had a different pattern of growth. 

SPATIAL DIMENSION OF SETTLEMENT STRUCTURES

The settlement structure of the regions did not remain static. Some regions like the middle Ganga plain and the Deccan were endowed with a greater number of towns. During the post-Gupta period, the urban centres die out. 

There is increasing evidence of agrarian expansion and the emergence of new rural settlements. In some cases earlier tribal hamlets were transformed into peasant villages. There were differences between Brahmana and non-Brahmana settlements at the level of economic activity and social stratification. These differences gradually extended to areas which had initially remained peripheral to mainstream developments.

They experienced transition from tribalism to more complex social structures. For example the basis for the rise of organized religion & state and of class society was laid in these regions. This transition would imply a proliferation of new settlements in these regions and a rise in population. Regions with a higher population density have always played a leading role in Indian history.

The Ganga valley, the Tamil plains and the East coast were all regions with a higher density of population. Areas with resource potential and other attractions were naturally densely populated and a steady supply of manpower always added to the military strength of the State.