| Upper Assam | |
| Settlement Type: | Division |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | India |
| Subdivision Type1: | State |
| Subdivision Name1: | Assam |
| Subdivision Type2: | Largest city |
| Subdivision Name2: | Jorhat |
| Seat: | Jorhat |
| Seat Type: | Headquarters |
| Population Total: | 7.5 million |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Timezone1: | UTC +05:30 (IST) |
Upper Assam is an administrative division of the state of Assam comprising the undivided Lakhimpur and Sivasagar (previously, Sibsagar) districts, of the upper reaches of the Brahmaputra valley. 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, Dhemaji, Golaghat, Charaideo, Lakhimpur, Majuli, Sivasagar, and Tinsukia. While Charaideo and Majuli are the newest districts that were raised to district status in 2016,[1] [2] 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.[3] [4]
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.[5] After Guwahati Dibrugarh is officially recognised as a second city of Assam by formation of Dibrugarh Municipal Corporation and Government of Assam will establish a CM Secretariat at Dibrugarh.
An extended list of Upper – Assam region also includes the districts of Sonitpur, Karbi Anglong & 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.
See main article: article and Möng Mao. In 1318, Si Kefa, the ruler of Mongmao after conquering southeast states till Lancang river from the Yuan dynasty, appointed his brother Sanlongfa as the general and led an army of 90,000 to attack the king of Mengwei Sari (Upper Assam) in the northwest. In the end, he designed a plan to make Mengwei Sari surrender and was made a tributary state of Mongmao with the capital in Ruili.[6]
See main article: article and Toungoo dynasty. Suklenmung who intervened against a Toungoo dynasty attack on MongKwang in Kachin State of Myanmar was married to the princess Nang Sao Seng, the daughter of Chao Siu-Kwei of MongKwang. It is said that the Ahom capital Garhgoan was built at the suggestion of this Mong Kwang queen Nang Sao Seng.[7] In 1575, the king of Mongkwang, Chao Ka Pha II took shelter in Ahom territory after his state was devastated by the Burmese.
See main article: article and Konbaung dynasty. The region was occupied by the Burmese Konbaung dynasty between 1817 - 1825. The Burmese left the commander Mingimaha Tilwa in charge of the area who appointed Jogeswar Singha as the new puppet King in 1821 in Jorhat.[8] Later when the deposed king Chandrakanta Singha tried to fight back, Bagyidaw (1819 – 1837), the seventh King of Burma sent the greatest of his generals Mingimaha Bandula with 20,000 troops (including 10,000 Kamti Shan and Kachin levies who were chieftains of Mongkawng and Hukawng) who defeated Chandrakanta Singha at Mahgarh near Jorhat and reestablished Burmese authority in Assam. The defeat of Chandrakanta on 12 June 1822 marks the start of the Burmese rule in Assam.[9] and Burmese commander Mingimaha Tilwa was made the king. Maha Bandula then returned to Ava in Myanmar.
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, with the capital at Sadiya. The kingdom controlled almost the entire region of present Assam districts of Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Tinsukia and Dibrugarh as well as parts of Sonitpur, Golaghat, Jorhat and Sibsagar districts. In Arunachal Pradesh, it covered the districts bordering Assam.
The Ahom Kingdom was a kingdom in the Brahmaputra valley in Assam that maintained its sovereignty for nearly 600 years and successfully resisted Mughal expansion in North-East India. Established by Sukaphaa, a Tai prince from Mong Mao, 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 and the Treaty of Yandabo in 1826, control of the kingdom passed into British (East India Company) hands.
The Upper Assam division, comprising 24 percent of Assam's population at 7.56 million, predominantly adheres to Hinduism embraced by nearly 90 percent of its people, with Islam being the second most practiced 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, Moran, Matak, Deori, Thengal Kacharis and indigenous Assamese Muslim communities like Gorias Morias .