Upper Assam is an
administrative division
Administrative division, administrative unit,Article 3(1). country subdivision, administrative region, subnational entity, constituent state, as well as many similar terms, are generic names for geographical areas into which a particular, ind ...
of the state of
Assam comprising the undivided
Lakhimpur and
Sivasagar (previously, Sibsagar) districts, of the upper reaches of the
Brahmaputra valley
The Brahmaputra Valley is a region situated between hill ranges of the eastern and northeastern Himalayan range in Eastern India.
The valley consists of the Western Brahmaputra Valley covering the regions of Goalpara and Kamrup; the Central ...
. The other divisions are:
Lower Assam,
North Assam and
Hills and Barak Valley. The division is under the jurisdiction of a Commissioner, stationed at
Jorhat.
Consisting of 7 districts initially, the Upper – Assam division now contains 10 districts, that includes Biswanath,
Jorhat,
Dibrugarh
Dibrugarh (pron: ˌdɪbru:ˈgɑ:) is an industrial city in Upper Assam with sprawling tea gardens. It is located 435 kms East from the state capital of Dispur. It serves as the headquarters of Dibrugarh district in the state of Assam i ...
,
Dhemaji,
Golaghat,
Charaideo,
Lakhimpur,
Majuli
Mājuli or Majuli () is a river island in the Brahmaputra River, Assam and in 2016 it became the first island to be made a district in India. It had an area of at the beginning of the 20th century, but having lost significantly to erosion it c ...
,
Sivasagar, and
Tinsukia. While Charaideo and Majuli are the newest districts that were raised to district status in 2016, Golaghat and Tinsukia are the biggest districts in terms square kilometre area in the region, raised to the district status in the years of 1987 and 1989 respectively.
Dibrugarh, Golaghat and Jorhat are also the oldest recognised and constantly inhabited urban centres (municipal areas) in the region based on the earliest years of formation of the civic bodies, constituted before the Indian independence of 1947.
An extended list of Upper – Assam region also includes the districts of
Sonitpur,
Karbi Anglong
Karbi may refer to:
Places
* Karbi, Armenia
* Karbi Anglong Plateau, an extension of the Indian Plate in Assam, India
* Karbi Anglong district, a district of Assam, north-eastern India
Other uses
* Karbi people, an ethnic group of North-eas ...
&
Nagaon. The region is the most productive part of the state of Assam, which is rich in natural resources like
coal, oil and natural gas as well as tea plantations.
Dhubri
Dhubri (Pron: ˈdhubri) is an old town and headquarter of Dhubri district in Indian state of Assam. It is an old town on the bank of the Brahmaputra river, with historical significance. In 1883, the town was first constituted as a Municipal Bo ...
,
Kokrajhar
Kokrajhar () is a town in the Bodoland Territorial Region, an autonomous territory in Assam, one of the North Eastern states of India.
Kokrajhar town is located along the bank of the river Gaurang. The North East Indian Railways divides the ci ...
,
Bongaigaon
Bongaigaon () is a major city in the Indian state of Assam. Its urban area spans across Bongaigaon and Chirang district. The city also serves as the gateway of the North-East Frontier Railway Zone with its New Bongaigaon Junction railway st ...
,
Goalpara
Goalpara, Pron: ) is the district headquarters of Goalpara district, Assam, India. It is situated to the west of Guwahati.
Etymology
The name Goalpara is said to have originated from the word "Gwaltippika" meaning Guwali village, or The villa ...
,
Darrang,
Morigaon,
Baksa,
Udalguri
Odalguri (; also spelt Udalguri) is a town and the headquarters of Udalguri district under the jurisdiction of Bodoland Territorial Council which controls the Bodoland Territorial Area Districts in the state of Assam.
Geography
Odalguri is l ...
,
Chirang,
Kamrup,
Barpeta &
Nalbari come under
Lower – Assam.
History
Medieval
Chutia Kingdom (??-1523)
The medieval Chutia Kingdom was on the bank of the river
Brahmaputra. It was a powerful kingdom which had ruled in northeastern
Assam and some areas of present-day
Arunachal Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh (, ) is a state in Northeastern India. It was formed from the erstwhile North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and became a state on 20 February 1987. It borders the states of Assam and Nagaland to the south. It shares ...
, with the capital at
Sadiya. The kingdom controlled almost the entire region of present Assam districts of
Lakhimpur,
Dhemaji,
Tinsukia and
Dibrugarh
Dibrugarh (pron: ˌdɪbru:ˈgɑ:) is an industrial city in Upper Assam with sprawling tea gardens. It is located 435 kms East from the state capital of Dispur. It serves as the headquarters of Dibrugarh district in the state of Assam i ...
as well as parts of
Sonitpur,
Golaghat,
Jorhat and
Sibsagar districts. In Arunachal Pradesh, it covered the districts bordering Assam.
Ahom Kingdom (1228-1826)
The Ahom Kingdom was a kingdom in the
Brahmaputra valley in
Assam,
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
that maintained its sovereignty for nearly 600 years and successfully resisted
Mughal expansion in
North-East India. Established by
Sukaphaa
Sukaphaa (), also Siu-Ka-Pha, the first Ahom king in medieval Assam, was the founder of the Ahom kingdom and the architect of Assam. A prince of the Su/Tsu (Tiger) clan of the Mao-Shan sub-tribe originally from present-day Mong Mao, Yunnan Prov ...
, a
Tai
Tai or TAI may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
*Tai (comics) a fictional Marvel Comics supervillain
*Tai Fraiser, a fictional character in the 1995 film ''Clueless''
*Tai Kamiya, a fictional character in ''Digimon''
Businesses and organisations ...
prince from
Mong Mao
Mong may refer to:
People
*A proposed original name for the Hmong people, based on the main group, the Mong community
*Bob Mong (), American journalist and academic administrator
* Henry Mong (), American surgeon and Presbyterian missionary
* Mong ...
, it began as a
Mong in the upper reaches of the
Brahmaputra river. It expanded suddenly under
Suhungmung in the 16th century after annexing the Chutia kingdom and parts of Kachari kingdom and therefore became multi-ethnic in character. The kingdom became weaker with the rise of the
Moamoria rebellion, and subsequently fell to a succession of
Burmese invasions. With the defeat of the Burmese after 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 Burmes ...
and 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 ...
in 1826, control of the kingdom passed into British (
East India Company) hands.
Demographics
The Upper Assam division has a population of 7.56 million (24 percent of Assam's population). More than 80 percent of the people follow Hinduism with Islam as the second largest religion. More than 60 percent of the people speak Assamese with a sizeable
Bengali and Hindi minority.
The major communities of Upper assam are
Ahom,
Chutia, Tea tribes,
Mishing,
Sonowal Kacharis
The Sonowal Kachari ( as, Xonowāl Kosāree) are one of the indigenous peoples of the state of Assam in Northeast India. They are of Tibeto-Burman origin, and are closely associated with the other ethnic groups of Assam which are commonly refe ...
, Moran, Matak,
Deori, and
Thengal Kacharis.
Gallery
Dibrugarh_Night_View.jpg,
Jorhat.jpg,
City_Skyline_-_Golaghat.png,
GNB_Road_and_Ranghr_Complex.jpg,
Notes
* Formation of Dibrugarh municipal region, 1873.
* Formation of Golaghat municipal region, 1920.
* Formation of Jorhat municipal region, 1909.
References
*{{cite book
, first = Leslie
, last = Shakespear
, title = History of Upper Assam, Upper Burmah and Northeast Frontier.
, year = 1914
, publisher = Cambridge University Press.
Divisions of Assam