NAGALAND

constituent state of India, in the northeastern corner of the country. It is bounded on the east by Myanmar (Burma), on the south by the Indian state of Manipur, and on the west and northwest by the Indian state of Assam. A small section of Nagaland extends north from the Myanmar border into the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. The capital is Kohima. Nagaland has no early written history. The first references to the people there are found in 13th-century chronicles of the Ahom kingdom of neighbouring Assam. The word Naga designates the many tribes and subtribes that occupy the area. The name may have derived from the Sanskrit naga (snake); from Hindi nanga (naked); from naga (belonging to the hills); or from nok (people, or folk). There were occasional clashes between the Ahom and Naga, but the Ahom normally maintained friendly relations with the Naga chieftains. Myanmar ruled the Naga from 1819 to 1826, at which time the British established rule over Assam and gradually annexed the Naga hill areas to the British Empire. The British put an end to headhunting and intervillage raids, and the Naga settled down to a more peaceful life of cultivation and trade. Indian independence in 1947 sparked a movement for an autonomous Nagaland, but after prolonged negotiation the Naga people accepted statehood within India in 1963. Except for a small area of plain, the entire state is covered with ranges of hills that are part of the Himalaya system. The Naga Hills rise from the Brahmaputra Plain in the north initially to about 2,000 feet (600 m) and then increase toward the east to more than 6,000 feet (1,800 m). Isolated peaks reach 10,000 feet (3,000 m) or higher. The hills merge with the Patkai Range, which separates Nagaland from Myanmar and reaches a height of 12,552 feet (3,826 m) at Mount Saramati, on the border. The northwestern portion of Nagaland is drained by tributaries of the Brahmaputra River, the southeast by tributaries of the Chindwin River of Myanmar. The headstreams of the Barak River flow through the southwest. Nagaland has a wet monsoon climate, with an average annual rainfall that varies between 70 inches (1,800 mm) in the southeast and more than 100 inches (2,500 mm) in the northeast. July and August are the rainiest months. Summer daytime temperatures in the state range between 70 and 104 F (21 and 40 C), while in winter the temperature rarely falls below 39 F (4 C). Frost is common, however, at the higher elevations. The Naga people belong to the Indo-Mongoloid ethnic group. Although long-isolated, they lack cohesion as a single people. There are more than 20 major tribes and subtribes, differing in physique, dialect, and customs. There is no common language but rather 60 spoken dialects; in some areas, dialects vary from village to village. Intertribal communication is carried on in a broken Assamese called Nagamese. Many Naga also speak Hindi and English. About two-thirds are Christian, one-tenth are Hindu, and the rest are Muslim or other faiths. Most N aga live in rural villages, some of which have as many as 5,000 inhabitants. Kohima, Mokokchung, and Dimapur are the major urban centres. Agriculture is the mainstay of the economy. About four-fifths of all workers are cultivators. Crops include autumn and winter rice, small millets, edible seeds, oilseeds, sugarcane, potatoes, and tobacco. An inadequate amount of fertile land and the practice of slash-and-burn (jhum) farming practices have resulted in food shortages, and Nagaland must import large amounts of food. Agriculture has been undergoing a slow but steady transformation, however, with wasteful practices being replaced by improved methods. Forestry is a primary source of income and employment. Exploration has revealed chromium, nickel, cobalt, and iron-ore deposits, but at present only coal is mined. Recent drilling suggests exploitable oil reserves in the Wokha district and possibly in the Dikhu River valley. Nagaland's first hydroelectric plant started operating in 1978. Lack of raw materials, financial resources, and powertogether with inadequate communication and transportation facilities (there are only a few all-weather roads and a few miles of railway line)have hindered industrial development. Small industries prevail, including a television assembly plant, a distillery, rice mills, furniture factories, a paper and pulp mill, a sugar mill, and a fruit cannery. Cottage industries include weaving, basketry, woodworking, and pottery making. Tribal organization among the Naga varies from the powerful Konyak angs (chiefs) and hereditary chieftanships of the Sema and Chang to the democratic councils of the Angami, Ao, Lotha, and Rengma. A prominent village institution is the morung (communal house, or dormitory) for young unmarried men, and some tribes maintain communal houses for unmarried women as well. Women hold a high and honourable position in Naga society, work on equal terms with men in the fields, and wield influence in tribal councils. One-half of the population is literate. The state has several colleges for general education, several law colleges, and an agricultural college; all are affiliated with the North-Eastern Hill University in Meghalaya. Area 6,401 square miles (16,579 square km). Pop. (1991 prelim.) 1,215,573. state of India. It lies in the hills and mountains of the northeastern part of the country. One of the smallest states of India, it has a total area of just 6,401 square miles (16,579 square kilometres). It is bordered by the states of Manipur on the south, Assam on the west and northwest, and Arunachal Pradesh on the northeast. Myanmar (Burma) lies to the east. The capital is Kohima. Additional reading Verrier Elwin, Nagaland (1961); Prakash Singh, Nagaland, 3rd ed., rev. (1981); and Murkot Ramunny, The World of Nagas (1988), are overviews. Majid Husain, Nagaland: Habitat, Society, and Shifting Cultivation (1988), discusses the human geography of the area. On the people, see Julian Jacobs, The Nagas: Hill Peoples of Northeast India (1990). Swabera Islam Saleh, Nagaland's Economy in Transition Since 1964 (1989), examines economic developments. Hokishe Sema, Emergence of Nagaland (1986), is authored by a former chief minister of the state. B.B. Ghosh, History of Nagaland (1982), provides a brief historical survey of the region. M. Horam, Naga Insurgency: The Last Thirty Years (1988), is a personal account of the Naga Underground Movement. Deryck O. Lodrick History Nagaland has no early written history, although medieval chronicles of the neighbouring Ahom kingdom of Assam tell of the Naga tribes, their economy, and their customs. The 1816 Myanmar invasion of Assam led to oppressive Myanmar rule from 1819 until the establishment of British rule over Assam in 1826. The advent of British administration, which by 1892 encompassed the whole of Naga territory (except the rugged Tuensang area in the northeast), ended the practices of headhunting and intervillage raids and brought relative peace to the region. After India became independent in 1947, the Naga territory initially remained a part of Assam. A strong nationalist movement, however, began seeking a political union of the Naga tribes, and extremists demanded outright secession from the Indian Union. This movement led to a number of violent incidents, and in 1955 the Indian army was called in to restore order. In 1957, after an agreement was reached between Naga leaders and the Indian government, the Naga Hills district of Assam and the Tuensang frontier division to the northeast were brought together under a single unit directly administered by the Indian government. Despite the agreement, unrest continued in the form of noncooperation with the Indian government, nonpayment of taxes, sabotage, and attacks on the army. A further accord reached at the Naga People's Convention meeting of July 1960 resolved that Nagaland should become a constituent state of the Indian Union. Nagaland achieved statehood in 1963, and a democratically elected government took office in 1964. Rebel activity continued, however, increasingly assuming the form of banditry and often motivated more by tribal rivalry and personal vendetta than by political aspiration. Ceasefires and negotiations did little to stop the insurgency, and in March 1975 direct presidential rule was imposed on the state. Although leaders of the underground agreed in November 1975 to lay down their arms and accept the Indian Constitution, a small group of hard-core extremists continued to agitate for Naga independence. Minodhar Barthakur Deryck O. Lodrick