History of Assam
Although invaded over the centuries, it was never a vassal or a colony to an external power until the third Burmese invasion in 1821, and, subsequently, the British ingress into Assam in 1824 during the First Anglo-Burmese War.
History of ancient Assam comes from a corpus of Kamarupa inscriptions on rock, copper plates, clay; royal grants, etc.
The religious literature of the Neo-Vaishnavite movement introduced by Sankaradeva are other important primary sources for the region's history.
A common theme of Medieval kingship narratives in Assam is associated with shaktism and the Kamakhya temple.
[5] The earliest inhabitants of the region are assigned to the Middle Pleistocene period (781,000 to 126,000 years ago) in the Rongram valley of Garo Hills.
Other Paleolithic sites include those in the Daphabum area of Lohit district in Arunachal Pradesh which used stone tools from metamorphic rocks.
The cave-based Paleolithic sites at Khangkhui in Ukhrul, Manipur, are placed in the Late Pleistocene period.
There exists evidence of a microlithic culture in the Rongram Valley of Garo Hills that lie between the neolithic layers and virgin soil.
These neolithic sites, though widely spread, are concentrated in the hills and high grounds, due possibly to the floods.
Some typical sites are Daojali Hading in Dima Hasao, Sarutaru in Kamrup district and Selbagiri in the Garo Hills.
Though the metal age seems to be missing in Assam, the Iron Age Megalithic culture of South India finds an echo in the rich megalithic culture in the region, which begins to appear earlier than the late second millennium BCE,[6] and which continues till today among the Khasi and the Naga people.
Bhaskaravarman died without leaving behind an issue and the control of the country passed to Salasthamba, who established the Mlechchha dynasty.
In the middle of the 13th century, Sandhya, a king of Kamarupanagara, moved his capital to Kamatapur, and thus established the Kamata kingdom.
[10] But Hussein Shah and subsequent rulers could not consolidate their rule in the Kamata kingdom, mainly due to the revolt by the Bhuyan chieftains,[11] a relic of the Kamarupa administration, and other local groups.
Though the Ahoms recaptured power, it was beset with problems,[14] leading to the Burmese invasion of Assam in the early 19th century.
[15] With the defeat of the Burmese in the First Anglo-Burmese war and the subsequent Treaty of Yandaboo, control of Assam passed into the hands of the British, which marks the end of the Medieval period.
In 1830 Dhananjoy Burhagohain, Piyali Phukan and Jiuram Medhi rose in revolt, and they were sentenced to death.
In the Indian Rebellion of 1857, rebels supporters offered resistance in the form of non-cooperation, and Maniram Dewan and Piyali Baruah were executed for their roles.
In 1861 peasants of Nagaon gathered at Phulaguri for a raiz mel (peoples' assembly) to protest against taxes on betel-nut and paan.
In this period Nagaon witnessed starvation deaths, and there was a decrease in the indigenous population, which was more than adequately compensated by the immigrant labor.
Colonialism was well entrenched, and the tea, oil and coal-mining industries were putting increasing pressure on the agricultural sector which was lagging behind.
Around 140 people were left dead and in the violent repression that followed villagers were tortured and their properties were destroyed or looted.
The Swadeshi movement (1905–1908) from this period, went largely unfelt in Assam, though it stirred some, most notably Ambikagiri Raychoudhury.
Dyarchy (1921–1937): Under the Government of India Act 1919 the Assam Legislative Council membership was increased to 53, of which 33 were elected by special constituencies.
The agitation leaders formed a political party, Asom Gana Parishad, which came to power in the state of Assam in the Assembly elections of 1985.
