Northern India is a geographic and linguistic-cultural region of India. In traditional Indian geography, India is divided into five major zones: North India, North-East India, East India , West India and South India. The Vindhya mountains, in particular the line marked by the Narmada River and the Mahanadi River marks the southern boundary of north India. The defining features of northern India are ethinicity of its people, linguistics and its history. Northern Indians are primarily defined to be of the Indo-Aryan ethinic group, although there has been a significant diffusion of all Indian populations since independence.

The languages spoken in northern India, namely, Hindi (around 300 million), Punjabi (37 million), Bhojpuri (23 million) and others are classified by linguists as being Indo-Aryan languages. In the last thousand years or so, northern India was subjected to various invasions from neighbouring kingdoms than any other region of India. Indeed, such invasions has left a major mark on the cultural and linguistic traditions of North India.The predominant geographical feature of northern India is the Indo-Gangetic plain which spans the states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar and supports more than half the regions population. The melting of glaciers in the summer and the monsoon rains ensure that the Ganges and its tributaries are perennial, this along with the fertile alluvial nature of the soil have historically been able to be support increasing populations.