Gondwana, sometimes called Gondaranya, is a region of central India, and is named after the Gondi people who live there (though they can also be found in other parts of India). The name of the ancient continent of Gondwanaland was derived from Gondwana, because some of the earliest rock formations of this continent were first investigated in part of the region, in modern Orissa. Gondi may refer to The Gondi people, an ethnic group of central India The Gondi language, the language of the Gondi people Gondi dumplings, a traditional Iranian Jewish food The French aristocratic de Gondi family whose most famous member was Jean François Paul de Gondi, cardinal de Retz. ... Pangea broke into the two supercontinents, Laurasia and Gondwana The southern supercontinent Gondwana (originally Gondwanaland) included most of the landmasses which make up todays continents of the southern hemisphere, including Antarctica, South America, Africa, Madagascar, India, Arabia, Australia-New Guinea and New Zealand. ... Orissa (2001 provisional pop. ...

As Gonds are spread widely across central India, and are a minority almost everywhere, there is no unambiguous boundary to the region. However, the core region can be considered to be the eastern part of the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, the parts of Madhya Pradesh immediately to the north of it, and parts of the west of Chhattisgarh. The wider region extends beyond these, also including parts of northern Andhra Pradesh, and western Orissa. Vidarbha is the north-western region of Maharashtra state, now forming two divisions (Nagpur and Amravati). ... Maharashtra (महाराष्ट्र) is Indias third largest state in terms of area and second largest in terms of population after Uttar Pradesh. ... Madhya Pradesh (मध्य प्रदेश) is a state in central India. ... Chhattisgarh (छत्तीसगढ़), a state in central India, formed when the sixteen southeastern districts of Madhya Pradesh gained statehood on November 1, 2000. ... Andhra Pradesh (ఆంధ్ర ప్రదేశం in Telugu) (Āndhra Prādesh), is a state in south-eastern India and is part of the linguistic-cultural region of South India. ... Orissa (2001 provisional pop. ...

The region is part of the northern Deccan plateau, with an average height of about 600–700 metres. Much of it is rugged and hilly. Geologically it is mostly Pre-Cambrian rock, with some areas dated to Permian and Triassic periods. Part of it is overlaid with alluvium, and in the west it is overlaid with the igneous rocks of the Deccan Traps. Introduction The Deccan Plateau is a vast plateau in India, encompassing most of Central and Southern India. ... The metre, or meter, is the basic unit of length in the International System of Units (SI: Système International dUnités). ... The Permian is a geologic period that extends from about 280 to 248 million years before the present (mya). ... The Triassic is a geologic period that extends from about 245 to 202 million years ago (mya). ... The Deccan Traps is a large igneous province located in west-central India and is one of the largest volcanic features on Earth. ...

The climate is hot and semi-arid. The natural vegetation is dry monsoon forest, or monsoon scrub forest. Large parts of it are still forest, and it contains several national parks, including tiger populations. Tigers (Panthera tigris) are mammals of the Felidae family and one of four big cats in the Panthera genus. ...

Gondwana has a relatively high proportion of peoples of the "scheduled tribes" of India, which include the Gonds. The scheduled tribes are recognised as economically and socially disadvantaged. They form a majority of the population in many districts. A number of old kingdoms were established by, or together with, ruling families of the Gonds and other scheduled tribes in this region. The region is however, like most of India now, dominated economically by "caste Hindus". The economic disadvantage to which the tribal people are subject is often ascribed to the Maratha conquest of the region in the 18th century, followed by the British imposition of the permanent settlement in the 19th century. A number of rebellions against British rule took place throughout the 19th century. Some of these rebellions focused on protection of forests against commercial logging. In their efforts to subjugate them, entire communities were labelled "criminal classes" by the British. Maratha is a kshatriya (warrior) caste of Marathi language speaking people primarily residing in the plains and hills of Indias western state of Maharashtra. ...

Political and communal movements directed against the dominant political structure still occur in the region, including the Gondwana Ganatantra Party, founded in 1991 in Madhya Pradesh. Among these movements, there is one to have a new state of Gondwana created within the Indian Union. Gondwana Ganatantra Party was formed in 1991 to plead for the rights of the Gondi people, and to establish a separate Indian state of Gondwana in central India. ...