Imphal Valley ( /ˈɪmpɑːl/; ) or Manipur Valley () is located in the

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

n state of

Manipur Manipur () is a state in northeastern India with Imphal as its capital. It borders the Indian states of Assam to the west, Mizoram to the south, and Nagaland to the north and shares the international border with Myanmar, specifically t ...

and is an irregular almost oval shaped

canyon A canyon (; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), gorge or chasm, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tendency t ...

that was formed as a result of the multiple small

rivers A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of its course if it ru ...

that originate from neighbouring hill regions surrounding the valley and flow through it. The water in the Imphal valley is fetched from several rivers that flows via the valley, such as

Imphal River The Imphal River (), also known as the Turel Achouba, is a major river in Manipur state, northeastern India which originates from the northern side of Kangpokpi district. It is a tributary of the Manipur River, joining it in Thoubal district. ...

, Iril River, Thoubal River, Khuga River and Sekmai river. Imphal River is the most prominent of the rivers which pass through the heart of the valley, and the river for which the entire valley is named. The Imphal valley is located in almost the centre of the state of

and is surrounded by hills on all sides. Manipur has multi-topographical characteristics; it is a part of the

eastern Himalayas ] The Eastern Himalayas extend from eastern Nepal across Northeast India, Bhutan, the Tibet Autonomous Region to Yunnan in China and northern Myanmar. The climate of this region is influenced by the monsoon of South Asia from June to September. I ...

, especially its lower hills, and it is an important feature of the landscape of Manipur. The hills forms one of the two main physical regions of the state, the other being the Manipur valley or the Imphal valley in which the state capital, Imphal, Imphal city is situated at. The hill ranges that surround the valley include

Naga hills The Naga Hills, reaching a height of around , lie prominently on the border of India and Myanmar. They are part of a complex mountain system, and the parts of the mountain ranges inside the States and territories of India, Indian states of Naga ...

to the north, the East Manipur hills along the eastern Myanmar border, the Kuki hills to the south, and the West Manipur Hills to the west. Many geologists have suggested that the Imphal valley is actually a

lacustrine plain A lacustrine plain or lake plain is a plain formed due to the past existence of a lake and its accompanying sedimentation, sediment accumulation. Lacustrine plains can be formed through one of three major mechanisms: glacial drainage, differentia ...

formed by siltation of an ancient lake. The Loktak Lake, biggest fresh water lake in the

northeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A '' compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—eac ...

region of India, located in the south west of the valley, is believed to be a remnant of the ancient lake. The valley is about 57.92 km from north to south and 32.19 km from east to west at its broadest. The area of the valley is only 1,864.44 sq.km. This plain area extends to the foothills of the mountains. All rivers of the valley flow south due to the slope of the valley from north to south. The average elevation of the valley is 790 m above mean sea level but in the north it is 832.2 m and in the south it is 760.01 meters from mean sea level.

Demographics

Manipur has a total population of around 2,855,794 as per the 2011 census. Out of this around 60% (approx) of the total population lives in the Imphal valley and the remaining 40% (approx) lives in the hill regions of Manipur. The valley region is mainly populated by the

Meitei people The Meitei people, also known as Meetei people,P.20: "historically, academically and conventionally Manipuri prominently refers to the Meetei people."P.24: "For the Meeteis, Manipuris comprise Meeteis, Lois, Kukis, Nagas and Pangal." are a Ti ...

(also known as the Manipuris).

Climate

The climate is temperate in the valley but comparatively cold in the hilly regions of Manipur. In summer the average high temperature is about 32–34 °C, while in the winter temperatures can drop to as low as about 1–2 °C.

References

{{coord missing, Manipur Manipur articles missing geocoordinate data Valleys of India Geology of India Natural regions of India Geography of Manipur