The Undivided Goalpara district is an erstwhile

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

, India, first constituted by the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

rulers of

Colonial Assam Colonial Assam (1826–1947) refers to the period of History of Assam between the signing of the Treaty of Yandabo and Independence of India when Assam was under the British colonial rule. The political institutions and social relations that wer ...

Establishment

Historical background

The region was part of

Kamarupa Kamarupa (; also called Pragjyotisha or Pragjyotisha-Kamarupa), an early state during the Classical period on the Indian subcontinent, was (along with Davaka) the first historical kingdom of Assam. Though Kamarupa prevailed from 350 to 11 ...

in the first millennium, subsequently a part of

Kamata kingdom The Kamata Kingdom (pron: ˈkʌmətɑ) emerged in western Kamarupa probably when Sandhya, a ruler of Kamarupanagara, moved his capital west to Kamatapur sometime after 1257 CE. Since it originated in the old seat of the Kamarupa kingdom, a ...

and finally

Koch Hajo Koch Hajo (1581-1616) was the kingdom under Raghudev and his son Parikshit Narayan of the Koch dynasty that stretched from Sankosh river in the west to the Bhareli river in the east on the north bank of the Brahmaputra river. It was created by di ...

in the late 16th century. But after beginning of Ahom-Mughal conflicts (1619-1682), it became a part of the

Bengal Subah The Bengal Subah ( bn, সুবাহ বাংলা; fa, ), also referred to as Mughal Bengal ( bn, মোগল বাংলা), was the largest subdivision of the Mughal Empire (and later an independent state under the Nawabs of Ben ...

of the

Mughal Empire The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...

; though it was in

Ahom Ahom may refer to: *Ahom people, an ethnic community in Assam * Ahom language, a language associated with the Ahom people *Ahom religion, an ethnic folk religion of Tai-Ahom people *Ahom alphabet, a script used to write the Ahom language * Ahom kin ...

control for about three years around 1658, it was not a regular part of Ahom territory." Ahom territory (i e, by and large, the Brahmaputra Valley without the Goalpara district)." Under the Mughals, it was constituted as Sarkar Dhekuri, and it passed into

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

control along with

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

in 1765 and it fell under the Rangpur administration. As a part of the East India Company's frontier policy a special administrative region, called "North-Eastern Parts of Rangpur", was constituted sometime after 1816, with David David Scott appointed as its Civil Commissioner in January 1822.

Constituting Goalpara

In anticipation of a rapture with the Burmese, the eastern frontier was placed under a military command, with David Scott appointed as an Agent of the Governor-General to oversee the political aspect of the Northeast Frontier and the Assam affairs. Within the first month of the

First Anglo-Burmese War The First Anglo-Burmese War ( my, ပထမ အင်္ဂလိပ်-မြန်မာ စစ်; ; 5 March 1824 – 24 February 1826), also known as the First Burma War, was the first of three wars fought between the British and Burmese ...

(March 1824), the regions to the east of Rangpur, Kamrup and

Darrang Darrang () is an administrative district in the state of Assam in India. The district headquarters are located at Mangaldoi. The district occupies an area of 1585 km2. History No definitive records about Darrang are available for the pre-med ...

(under the erstwhile Ahom kingdom, then under Burmese occupation). By October 1824, the newly acquired region came under administrative control of David Scott, the Chief Commissioner of "North-Eastern Parts of Rangpur" and the historical grouping of the Goalpara, Kamrup and Darrang (largely congruous to the erstwhile Koch Hajo) called Western Assam (later

Lower Assam Lower Assam division is one of the 5 administrative divisions of Assam. It was formed in 1874, comprising Undivided Kamrup district of Western Assam, undivided Darrang and Nagoan districts of Central Assam and Khasi & Jaintia hills of Meghalaya ...

) became apparent. The Burmese abandoned the Ahom capital

Rangpur, Assam Rangpur (pron: ˈræŋpʊə or ˈræŋgpʊə), 4th capital of the Ahom kingdom, was established by Swargadeo Rudra Singha in 'Meteka' in 1707 after shifting the capital from Garhgaon . It is currently a part of Sibsagar town. The place hold ...

in 1825 and following the

Treaty of Yandabo The Treaty of Yandabo ( my, ရန္တပိုစာချုပ် ) was the peace treaty that ended the First Anglo-Burmese War. The treaty was signed on 24February 1826, nearly two years after the war formally broke out on 5March 1824, by ...

of February 1826, the whole of the Ahom kingdom, except the

Sadiya Sadiya is a town in Tinsukia district, Assam. It was the capital of the Chutia Kingdom and after the downfall of the kingdom it became the seat of the ''Sadiya-khowa-Gohain'' of the Ahom kingdom. Extensive remains of buildings and fortificati ...

and the Bengmara regions, fell under direct British control and came to be called Eastern Assam. Western and Eastern Assam were placed under two commissioners, the Senior and Junior Commissioners, with the Senior Commissioner having certain overriding powers over the Junior Commissioners. The Junior Commissionership was abolished in 1828. In March 1833 the erstwhile "Northeast Rangpur" was constituted as the Goalpara district. At the end of the

Bhutan War The Duar War (or Anglo-Bhutan War) was a war fought between British India and Bhutan in 1864–1865. It has been the only military conflict between the two states since 1774. Background Across the nineteenth century, British India commissioned ...

or (the Duar War) in 1865 the British took complete control of the

Duars The Dooars or Duars ( as, দুৱাৰ, duar, rkt, দুৱাৰ, duar, bn, দুয়ার, duyar) () are the alluvial floodplains in eastern-northeastern India that lie south of the outer foothills of the Himalayas and north of the ...

, and the portions adjoining Goalpara were added to it.

Notes

References

* * * * {{refend Goalpara district Assam Colonial India 1833 establishments in British India

Establishment

Historical background

Constituting Goalpara

See also

Notes

References