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 (A military unit)]] 
Some evidences have been found that nearly 2 million years ago man lived in the foothills of Himachal Pradesh.''Bangana'' valley of [[Kangra]], ''Sirsa'' valley of [[Nalagarh]] and ''Markanda'' valley of [[Sirmour]] are found to be the places where prehistoric man used to live. The foothills of the state were inhabited by people from [[Indus valley civilization]] which flourished between the time period of 2250 and 1750 B.C.<ref name=bsahistory>{{cite web
| url = http://himachal.nic.in/tour/history.htm
| title = History of Himachal
| accessdate = 2006-10-26
| publisher = Cultural Dep. of Himachal 
}}</ref> <br />
As per the [[Hindu]] epic [[Mahabharata]], the tract which forms the present day Himachal Pradesh was made up of number of small republics, namely ''Janpadas'' each of which constituted both a provincial and cultural unit.<br />
The small [[kingdom]] enjoyed a large degree of [[independence]] till the eve of the [[Muslim]] invasions in northern [[India]]. The states of the foothills were devastated by Muslim invaders a number of times. [[Mahmud Ghaznavi]] conquered [[Kangra]] at the begining of the 10th century. [[Timur]] and [[Sikander Lodi]] also marched through the lower hills of the state and captured a number of [[forts]] and fought many [[battles]].<br />
The ''[[Gorkhas]]'', a [[martial]] [[tribe]] came to power in [[Nepal]] in the year 1768. They consolidated their [[military]] power and began to expand their [[territory]]. Gradually the Gorkhas annexed [[Sirmour]] and [[Shimla]]. With the leadership of Amar Singh Thapa, ''Gorkhas'' laid siege to [[Kangra]]. They managed to defeat Sansar Chand, the ruler of [[kangra]], in [[1806]] with the help of many ''provincial chiefs''. However ''Gorkhas'' could not capture [[Kangra]] fort which came under Maharaja Ranjeet Singh in 1809. After the defeat the ''[[Gorkhas]]'' began to expand towards the south of the state.<br /> 
This led in the ''Anglo-Gorkha'' war. They came into direct conflict with the [[British]] along the ''tarai'' belt after which the [[British]] expelled them from the provinces of the [[Satluj]]. Thus [[British]] gradualy emerged as the paramount powers.<br />
The revolt of 1857 or first [[Indian Rebellion of 1857|Indian war of independence]] resulted due to the building up of political, social, economic, religious and military grievances against the British government. People of the hill states were not politically alive as the people in other parts of the country. They remained more or less inactive and so did their rulers with the exception of ''Bushahr''. Some of them even rendered help to the British government during the revolt. Among them were the rulers of [[Chamba]], [[Bilaspur]], Bhagal and Dhami. The rulers of Bushars rather acted in a manner hostile to the interests of [[British]].<br /> 
The [[British]] territories in the hill came under British Crown after Queen Victoria's proclamation of 1858. The states of [[Chamba]], [[Mandi]] and [[Bilaspur]] made good progress in many fields during the British rule. During the [[first world war]], virtually all rulers of the hill states remained loyal and contributed to the British war effort both in the form of men and materials. Amongst these were the states of [[Kangra]], Siba, Nurpur, [[Chamba]], Suket, [[Mandi]] and [[Bilaspur]].<br />
After independence the ''Chief Commissioner's province of H.P.'' came into being on 15th April, [[1948]]. Himachal became a part C state on 26th January, [[1950]] with the implementation of the [[Constitution of India]]. [[Himachal Pradesh]] became [[Union Territory]] on 1st November, [[1956]]. On 18th December, [[1970]] the State of [[Himachal Pradesh]] Act was passed by Parliament and the new state came into being on 25th January, [[1971]]. Thus H.P. emerged as the eighteenth state of Indian Union.