The Chin Hills are a range of mountains in
Chin State
Chin State (, ) is a state in western Myanmar. The Chin State is bordered by Sagaing Division and Magway Division to the east, Rakhine State to the south, Bangladesh to the south-west, and the Indian states of Mizoram to the west and Manipur t ...
, northwestern
Burma (Myanmar)
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
, that extends northward into
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 ...
's
Manipur
Manipur () ( mni, Kangleipak) is a state in Northeast India, with the city of Imphal as its capital. It is bounded by the Indian states of Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south and Assam to the west. It also borders two regions of Myanm ...
state.
Geography
The highest peak in the Chin Hills is
Khonu Msung
Nat Ma Taung ( my, နတ်မတောင်; Khaw-nu-soum or Khonuamthung in Chin), also known as Mount Victoria, is the highest mountain in the Chin State of western Burma.
Geography
With a height of above sea level and a prominence of , N ...
, or Mount Victoria, in southern Chin State, which reaches . The
Chin Hills–Arakan Yoma montane forests ecoregion
An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of l ...
has diverse forests with
pine
A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accep ...
,
camellia
''Camellia'' (pronounced or ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. They are found in eastern and southern Asia, from the Himalayas east to Japan and Indonesia. There are more than 220 described species, with some controversy ...
and
teak
Teak (''Tectona grandis'') is a tropical hardwood tree species in the family Lamiaceae. It is a large, deciduous tree that occurs in mixed hardwood forests. ''Tectona grandis'' has small, fragrant white flowers arranged in dense clusters (panicl ...
.
Falam
Falam (, ) is a town in north-western Burma (Myanmar) near Burma's western border with the Indian state of Mizoram. The town was founded by Taisun tribe. The British arrived to Falam in 1892, and became an important base for British rule of the ...
is the largest town in the Chin Hills, lying at their southern edge.
The Chin Hills are the eastern part of the
Patkai Range
The Pat-kai (Pron:pʌtˌkaɪ) or Patkai Bum ( Burmese: ''Kumon Taungdan'') are a series of mountains in the Indo-Myanmar border falling in the north-eastern Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Upper Burma region of Myanmar. They ...
, which includes the
Lushai Hills
The Lushai (Pron: ˌlʊˈʃaɪ) Hills (or Mizo Hills) are a mountain range in Mizoram and Manipur, India. The range is part of the Patkai range system and its highest point is 2,157 m high Phawngpui, also known as 'Blue Mountain'.
Flora and fau ...
and runs through
Nagaland
Nagaland () is a landlocked state in the northeastern region of India. It is bordered by the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh to the north, Assam to the west, Manipur to the south and the Sagaing Region of Myanmar to the east. Its capital cit ...
in India, as well as part of Burma. The Lushai Hills are frequently discussed with the Chin Hills as the topography, people's culture and history are similar. The southern prolongation of the Chin Hills is the
Arakan Range (Arakan Yoma), stretching as well from north to south.
History
Historically the area of the range has been populated by the
Chin people who like their neighbours to the west are a
Laimi people. In addition to
subsistence agriculture
Subsistence agriculture occurs when farmers grow food crops to meet the needs of themselves and their families on smallholdings. Subsistence agriculturalists target farm output for survival and for mostly local requirements, with little or no su ...
the Chin raided the villages of the Burman on the plains of the
Myittha and
Chindwin ,
, image = Homalin aerial.jpg
, image_size =
, image_caption = The Chindwin at Homalin. The smaller, meandering Uyu River can be seen joining the Chindwin.
, map = Irrawaddyrivermap.jpg
, map_size =
, map_alt =
, map_caption ...
rivers, as well as each other.
[Ireland, Alleyne (1907) ''The province of Burma: a report prepared on behalf of the University of Chicago'' Houghton-Mifflin, Boston, Massachusetts,]
volume 2, page 790
In 1888, the British began a military campaign to end these raids which resulted in pacification of the province by 1896,
and it was administratively added to Burma as a special division.
In the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
the hills formed a point of armed conflict between Japanese forces and a combined British and Indian force.
See also
*
Arakan Mountains
*
Chin Hills-Arakan Yoma montane forests
Notes
External links
Burma - GeographyGoogle Books, ''The Physical Geography of Southeast Asia''
*
Hills of Myanmar
Hills of Manipur
{{Manipur-geo-stub