Five mountain ranges — Baramura, Atharamura, Longtharai, Shakhan and Jampui Hills — run north to south, with intervening valleys; Agartala, the capital, is located on a plain to the west.

Mainstream Indian cultural elements coexist with traditional practices of the ethnic groups, such as various dances to celebrate religious occasions, weddings and festivities; the use of locally crafted musical instruments and clothes; and the worship of regional deities.

The sculptures at the archaeological sites Unakoti, Pilak and Devtamura provide historical evidence of artistic fusion between organised and indigenous religions.

[15] A Kokborok etymology from tüi (water) and pra (near) has been suggested; the boundaries of Tripura extended to the Bay of Bengal when the kings of the Tipra Kingdom held sway from the Garo Hills of Meghalaya to Arakan, the present Rakhine State of Burma; so the name may reflect vicinity to the sea.

At various times, the borders reached south to the jungles of the Sundarbans on the Bay of Bengal; east to Burma; and north to the boundary of the Kamarupa kingdom in Assam.

Bir Chandra Manikya (1862–1896) modelled his administration on the pattern of British India, and enacted reforms including the formation of Agartala Municipal Corporation.

Following the war, the Indian government reorganised the North East region to ensure effective control of the international borders – three new states came into existence on 21 January 1972:[34] Meghalaya, Manipur, and Tripura.

[44] The four main seasons are winter, from December to February; pre-monsoon or summer, from March to April; monsoon, from May to September; and post-monsoon, from October to November.

[52] The evergreen forests on the hill slopes and the sandy river banks are dominated by species such as Dipterocarpus, Artocarpus, Amoora, Elaeocarpus, Syzygium and Eugenia.

Other major towns with a population of 10,000 or more (as per 2015 census) are Sabroom, Dharmanagar, Jogendranagar, Kailashahar, Pratapgarh, Udaipur, Amarpur, Belonia, Gandhigram, Kumarghat, Khowai, Ranirbazar, Sonamura, Bishalgarh, Teliamura, Mohanpur, Melaghar, Ambassa, Kamalpur, Bishramganj, Kathaliya, Santirbazar and Baxanagar.

Communism in the state had its beginnings in the pre-independence era, inspired by freedom struggle activities in Bengal, and culminating in regional parties with communist leanings.

[79] According to the Economic Census of 2005, after agriculture, the maximum number of workers were engaged in retail trade (28.21% of total non-agricultural workforce), followed by manufacturing (18.60%), public administration (14.54%), and education (14.40%).

[81] According to the Directorate of Economics & Statistics, Government of Tripura, in 2009–10, potato, sugarcane, mesta, pulses and jute were the other major crops cultivated in the state.

[92] However agriculture and allied activities contribution to Gross State Domestic Production (GSDP) is only 23%, this is primarily because of low capital base in the sector.

Despite the inherent limitation and constraints coupled with severe resource shortages for investing in basic infrastructure, this has brought consistent progress in the quality of life and income of people across all sections of society.

However, the Tripura government's independent assessment, based on consumption distribution data, reported that, in 2001, 55 per cent of the rural population was below the poverty line.

[94] Passenger helicopter services are available between the capital and major towns (Kailashahar, Dharmanagar) as well as to more remote areas such as Kanchanpur, Belonia and Gandacherra.

[95] Starting at Sabroom in southern Tripura, it heads north to the capital Agartala, turns east and then north-east to enter the state of Assam.

[97] Several locations along the border serve as bilateral trading points between India and Bangladesh, such as Akhaura near Agartala, Raghna, Srimantpur, Belonia, Khowai and Kailasahar.

[111] With recent discoveries, the state has abundant natural gas reserves to support many more power generation plants, but lacks pipeline and transport infrastructure to deliver the fuel or electricity to India's national grid.

[116] Still, packaged drinking water under brands "Tribeni", "Eco Freshh", "Blue Fina", "Life Drop" and "Aqua Zoom" among others is manufactured and sold in the state.

[128] As in the rest of India, Tripura residents also cite poor quality of care as the most frequent reason for non-reliance over the public health sector.

[135] In 2011, the police in Tripura recorded 5,803 cognisable offences under the Indian Penal Code, a number second only to Assam (66,714) in North East India.

[142] Other minority languages such as Mog, Manipuri, Halam (old Kuki), Garo and Chakma, Odia, Bishnupriya, belonging to Indo-European and Sino-Tibetan families are spoken in the state.

[152] In 1941, the native Tripuris made up 62.06% of the population in present- day Tripura while the non-Tripuri people, mainly Bengalis and non-Bengalis occupies rest of the percentage.

[156] Again during the Bangladesh liberation war of 1971, in the second phase of migration, around 1.038 million Bengalis (most being Hindus) moved into various parts of Tripura as refugees with most of them settling down permanently afterwards.

[162] Bamboo, wood and cane are used to create an array of furniture, utensils, hand-held fans, replicas, mats, baskets, idols and interior decoration materials.

[168] Reang community, the second largest scheduled tribe of the state, is noted for its hojagiri dance that is performed by young girls balanced on earthen pitchers.

Sculptures are evidence of the presence of Buddhist and Brahmanical orders for centuries, and represent a rare artistic fusion of traditional organised religions and tribal influence.

[181][182] Tennis player Somdev Devvarman, who won the gold medal in the Men's Singles event at the 2010 Asian Games, has family roots in Tripura.