One of the largest and ancient cities of Northeast India,Guwahati is known as the Gateway to the Northeast. It is located between the banks of the Brahmaputra River and the Shillong Plateau. Assamese, which was the official language of the erstwhile Ahom kingdom continues to be the native language of the modern state of Assam and is written in Eastern Nagari Script,. The city of Guwahati with a population of 9,50,000, comes under the Kamrup Metropolitan district. According to the 2011 census, the total population of the district was 1.25 million out of which the total working population is about 5,00,000. 89 percent of the working population is employed in the manufacturing sector and only 8 percent participate in agriculture. Petroleum and the manufacture of tea are historically for which the city is well known. Located at the southern bank of the Brahmaputra river, the district has a rich reservoir of endangered birds and diverse wildlife such as Asian elephants, gaurs, rhinoceros and tigers. Pandu, located at the western part of the city was an ancient military base for the Ahom Kingdom and is now one of the fastest growing port cities. This city which was the capital of many ancient kingdoms like Varman and Kamarupa is now the major social, economic, political and administrative hubs of Assam.
