Assam is a state in the north east of India with a history dating back thousands of years. The earliest inhabitants of Assam date back a whopping 126,000 years to the Middle Pleistocene period. The prehistoric times of the state were first recorded in writing during the 4th century. Prior to this there is believed to have been a number of Naraka kings.
The name Assam dates back some 800 years to the time when Tai people first visited the area. The name was created when the Tai warriors from Burma settled in the area, calling the area Ahom. Due to the way they pronounced the name it soon came to be known as Assam. When European settlers landed in the area in the sixteenth century, and most notably when the British landed in the area, the name Assam stuck and has stayed the same ever since, with the local people happy with the name.
In the 1800’s the British forcibly removed the Burmese settlers from Assam, before finally seizing the area in 1826. Just over ten years later the whole of Northern India was under British command. The area was separated from Bengal in the late 1800s before being joined back with it and then separated once more in 1912. Following the separation Assam became the fastest growing location in India and was swarmed by merchants, traders and industrialists. This ultimately diminished the economic and political rights of the Assamese and to this day ethnicity and migrations are still large issues in the politics of the area.
When India gained independence in 1947, the Assamese people fought and finally won control of the assembly of their state. They aimed to improve employment opportunities for the native Assamese as well as assert the dominance of the Assamese culture. This led to many tribal districts in the area calling for independence from India. The final result was one the Assamese were not pleased with as large areas of the state were broken away into smaller states for the separate tribal districts. From the 1970’s onward there have been constant arguments between the Assamese and the government which have led to violence in some cases. The area has still not gained its independence but it has seen many deaths due to the force used by the Indian government against the local people.
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