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Welcome to Halbi Ethnolinguistics, a website dedicated to the Halbi language and its speakers who call home the Bastar District of Chhattisghar in India.
Bastar District
Bastar District is a district of Chhattisgarh where Halbi speakers predominate.
At the time I was doing my research in the late 1960's and 1970's, Bastar was a district of Madhya Pradesh, the large central province of India.
In 2000 Madhya Pradesh was divided and the state of Chhattisgarh created. Bastar District is now a district of the state of Chhattisgarh in central India. The district headquarters are located in Jagdalpur. Bastar has an area of 10755.79 km² and is bounded on the northwest by Rajnandgaon District (as well as Kanker District), on the north by Kondagaon District, on the east by Nabarangpur (also known as Nawarangpur) and Koraput districts of Odisha state, on the south and southwest by Dantewada District, and on the west by Gadchiroli District of Maharashtra state.
Somewhat confusingly besides Bastar District there is also Bastar Division. Bastar Division includes the districts of Bastar, Dantewada, Bijapur, Narayanpur, Sukma, Kanker, and initially Kondagaon. Bastar Division was created in 1999, when the larger Bastar District was divided into the present-day districts of Bastar, Dantewada, and Kanker. In 2000 the division became part of the newly created state of Chhattisgarh. Kondagaon was separated from Bastar Division in 2012 when it became the 27th district of Chhattisgarh state.
Bastar District is located in the southern part of Chhattishgarh on a plateau at a height of 2000 ft above sea level. According to the 2011 census the population of the district was 1,411,644 ( including Kondagaon district). There were were 697,359 males and 714,285 females. More than 70% of the population are adivasis (tribal people) and include Gond, Maria, Muria, Dhruva, Bhatra, Halba, Raj Mureas, Parji, and so on.
The Bastar region is situated between 17° 46' and 20° 34' North latitude and 80° 15' and 82° 15' East longitude. The largest river in Bastar district is the Indravati. The district covers an area of around 8755.79 sq km. Forest covers about 7,112 sq km (about 75% of the district).
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