History of Mizoram
The recorded history started relatively recently around the mid-19th century when the adjoining regions were occupied by the British monarchy.
Following religious, political and cultural revolutions in the mid-20th century majority of the people agglomerated into a super tribe, Mizo.
The earliest documented records of Mizoram were from the British military officers in the 1850s, when they encountered a series of raids in their official jurisdiction in Chittagong Hill Tracts from the neighbouring natives.
By the time they crossed the Tiau River bordering Myanmar, the descendants of Zahmuaka, who came to be known as the ruling Sailo clan, had proven their mettle as able and assertive chiefs.
Their religious lives were dominated by paganism and they led animistic world view, with unique concept of afterlife called Pialral.
They practised elaborate rituals including animal sacrifice, and worshipped or feared almost all conceivable inanimate objects, diseases and unusual natural phenomena.
Raids and outrages were of yearly occurrence, and on one occasion the Magistrate of Sylhet reported a series of massacres by "Kookies" in what was alleged to be British territory, in which 150 persons had been killed.
In addition, a contingent of Manipuris accompanied by Colonel James Nuttall, the Political Agent of Manipur, made a demonstration across the southern border to co-operate with General Bourchier's portion of the expedition.
Frontier posts were built to protect the border and bazaars were opened to encourage the Lushais to trade After a decade the truce was broken, and there erupted intermittent raids again.
They subjugated all the major chiefdoms, captured the chiefs and got permanently fortified in Aizawl and Lunglei, as the administrative centres.
Circle interpreters were educated individuals from missionary schools who functioned as intermediaries between chiefs and British administrators.
The accumulation of wealth from these educated circle interpreters would also lead to a new privileged class different from traditional elitism in chiefdoms.
The tribal districts of Assam, including the Lushai Hills, were declared "Excluded Area" by the Government of India Act 1935.
As the day of Independence drew nearer, the Constituent Assembly of India set up an advisory committee to deal with matters relating to the minorities and the tribal members.
A sub-committee, under the chairmanship of Gopinath Bordoloi was formed to advise the Constituent Assembly on the tribal affairs in the North East.
The Mizo Union submitted a resolution of this Sub-committee demanding inclusion of all Mizo-inhabited areas adjacent to Lushai Hills.
However, a new party called the United Mizo Freedom Organisation (UMFO) came up to demand that Lushai Hills join Burma after Independence.
They made camp at Thingpui Huan Tlang, Chandmary ("Tea Graden"), later named MacDonald Hill, Zarkawt.
Lorrain and founder of the Evangelical Church of Maraland was the first pioneering missionary to the Mara people at the southern extreme of Lushai Hills.
He entered Maraland (now includes southern end of Mizoram and adjoining Chin State of Burma) and settled at Serkawr (Saikao) village on 26 September 1907.
[30][31] While Christian missionaries did not abolish or prohibit the institution of zawlbuks, parents of the evangelised generation preferred pursuit in modern education standards and social mobility.
The decline of Zawlbuks also created the foundations for the educated class of Mizoram who would eventually go on to found the Young Mizo Association.
Following the Bordoloi sub-committee's suggestion, a certain amount of autonomy was accepted by the government and enshrined in the Six Schedule of the Indian Constitution.
The Lushai Hills Autonomous District Council came into being in 1952 followed by the formation of these bodies led to the abolition of chieftainship in the Mizo society.
They met in Aizawl in 1955 and formed a new political party, Eastern India Tribal Union (EITU) and raised their demand for a separate state comprising all the hill districts of Assam.
The MNFF gained considerable popularity as a large number of Mizo Youth assisted in transporting rice and other essential commodities to interior villages.
[36] "The next day, a more excessive bombing took place for several hours which left most houses in Dawrpui and Chhinga veng area in ashes", recollected 62-year-old Rothangpuia in Aizawl.
The Mizo District Council delegation met prime minister Indira Gandhi in May 1971 and demanded full-fledged statehood for Mizoram.
[38] Election of Rajiv Gandhi to the office of Prime Minister of India in 1984 incited the beginning of a new era in Indian politics.
