Nagaland History

A very small number of evidence is available about the early history of Nagaland. During the early 19th century the present day Nagaland was under the control of Myanmar.

When the British East India Company controlled over Assam, Nagaland became a part of the British India. By 1892, almost all parts of Assam and Nagaland became part of British India except Tuensang area of the present day Nagaland.

After India got her independence in 1947, the area under Nagaland and Assam were combined to form a single state known as Assam. But demand of a separate political entity from the Naga tribes became intensified and violent incidents occurred in many parts of the Naga dominated region.

In 1957, the Government of India decided to make Nagaland a single administrative unit and hence it became a union territory (UT) which was governed directly by the centre.

But it did not put an end to the violence in Nagaland. The vocal movement advocated political union of all Naga tribes and finally the Government of India decided to make Nagaland a separate state of Indian Union. On 1st December 1963, Nagaland got the official status of a state and became the 16th state of India.

The first level democratic elections were held in the state in 1964. But Naga separatists did not stop their violent oppositions and continued demanding for an autonomous status to the state and creation of a single administrative unit comprising of all the Naga inhabited areas spanning across some of the north eastern states. The first insurgencies were declared in the state in early 1980s. For some time peace restored in the region but again there has been ongoing conflict between rebel groups since the late 1990s. The cease fire has been declared in the stage since 1st August 2000 and peace talks are in progress.