Assam Province was a province of

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

, created in 1912 by the partition of the

Eastern Bengal and Assam Eastern Bengal and Assam was a Presidencies and provinces of British India, province of British India between 1905 and 1912. Headquartered in the city of Dacca, it covered territories in what are now Bangladesh, Northeast India and North Bengal, ...

Province. Its capital was in Shillong. The Assam territory was first separated from Bengal in 1874 as the 'North-East Frontier' non-regulation province. It was incorporated into the new province of Eastern Bengal and Assam in 1905 and re-established as a province in 1912.

History

In 1824, Assam was occupied by British forces following the First Anglo-Burmese War and on 24 February 1826 it was ceded to Britain by Burma under the Yandaboo Treaty of 1826. Between 1826 and 1832, Assam was made part of Bengal under the

Bengal Presidency The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal until 1937, later the Bengal Province, was the largest of all three presidencies of British India during Company rule in India, Company rule and later a Provinces o ...

. From 1832 to October 1838, the Assam princely state was restored in Upper Assam while the British ruled in Lower Assam. Purandar Singha was allowed to rule as king of Upper Assam in 1833, but after that brief period Assam was annexed to Bengal by the British. In 1873, British political control was imposed on western Naga communities. On 6 February 1874, Assam, including

Sylhet Sylhet (; ) is a Metropolis, metropolitan city in the north eastern region of Bangladesh. It serves as the administrative center for both the Sylhet District and the Sylhet Division. The city is situated on the banks of the Surma River and, as o ...

, was severed from Bengal to form the Assam Chief-Commissionership, also known as the 'North-East Frontier'. Shillong was chosen as the capital of the Non-Regulation Province of Assam in September 1874. The Lushai Hills were transferred to Assam in 1897. The new Commissionership included the five districts of Assam proper ( Kamrup,

Nagaon Nagaon is a city and a municipal board in Nagaon district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of Assam. It is situated east of Guwahati. With a population of 1,16,355 as per 2011 census it is an AMRUT City and 4th biggest city ...

, Darrang, Sibsagar and Lakhimpur), Khasi-Jaintia Hills, Garo Hills, Naga Hills, Goalpara and

- Cachar comprising about 54,100 sq miles. Cooch Behar, a historical part of Assam, was left out. From 16 October 1905, Assam became part of the province of East Bengal and Assam. The province was annulled in 1911 following a sustained mass protest campaign and on 1 April 1912 the two parts of Bengal were reunited and a new partition based on language followed, Oriya and Assamese areas were separated to form new administrative units: Bihar and Orissa Province was created to the west, and Assam Province to the east. British India's

Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms The Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms or more concisely the Mont–Ford Reforms, were introduced by the colonial government to introduce self-governing institutions gradually in British India. The reforms take their name from Edwin Montagu, the Sec ...

enacted through the

Government of India Act 1919 The Government of India Act 1919 ( 9 & 10 Geo. 5. c. 101) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was passed to expand participation of Indians in the government of India. The act embodied the reforms recommended in the report ...

expanded the Assam Legislative Council and introduced the principle of dyarchy, whereby certain responsibilities such as agriculture, health, education, and local government, were transferred to elected ministers. Some of the Indian ministers under the dyarchy scheme were Sir Syed Muhammad Saadulla (education and agriculture 1924–1934) and Rai Bahadur Promode Chandra Dutta (local self-government). The

Government of India Act 1935 The Government of India Act 1935 (25 & 26 Geo. 5. c. 42) was an Act of Parliament (UK), act passed by the British Parliament that originally received royal assent in August 1935. It was the longest act that the British Parliament ever enact ...

provided provincial autonomy and further enlarged the elected provincial legislature to 108 elected members. In 1937, elections were held for the newly created Assam Legislative Assembly established in Shillong. The

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

had the largest number of seats, with 38 members, but declined to form a government. Therefore, the Assam Valley Party with Muslim League's support Sir Syed Muhammad Saadulla was invited to form a ministry. Saadulla's government resigned in September 1938, after the Congress changed its decision, and the Governor, Sir Robert Neil Reid, then invited Gopinath Bordoloi. Bordoloi's cabinet included the future President of India Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed. During the Japanese invasion of India in 1944, some areas of Assam Province, including the Naga Hills district and part of the Manipur princely state, were occupied by Japanese forces between mid March and July. When fresh elections to the provincial legislatures were called in 1946, the Congress won a majority in Assam, and Bordoloi was again the chief minister. Prior to the

Independence of India The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events in South Asia with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British colonial rule. It lasted until 1947, when the Indian Independence Act 1947 was passed. The first nationalistic ...

, on 1 April 1946, Assam Province was granted self-rule and on 15 August 1947 it became part of the

Dominion of India The Dominion of India, officially the Union of India, * * was an independent dominion in the British Commonwealth of Nations existing between 15 August 1947 and 26 January 1950. Until its Indian independence movement, independence, India had be ...

. Bordoloi continued as the chief minister even after India's

independence Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of ...

in 1947.

Chief commissioners

* 1889 – 1891: James Wallace Quinton (b. 1834 – d. 1891) * 1912 – 1918: Archdale Earle (b. 1861 – d. 1934) * 1918 – 3 January 1921: Sir Nicholas Dodd Beatson Bell (b. 1867 – d. 1936)

Governors

* 3 January 1921 – 2 April 1921: Sir Nicholas Dodd Beatson Bell (b. 1867 – d. 1936) * 3 April 1921 – 10 October 1922: Sir William Sinclair Marris (b. 1873 – d. 1945) * 10 Oct 1922 – 28 June 1927: Sir John Henry Kerr (b. 1871 – d. 1934) * 28 Jun 1927 – 11 May 1932: Sir Egbert Laurie Lucas Hammond (b. 1873 – d. 1939) * 11 May 1932 – 4 March 1937: Sir Michael Keane (b. 1874 – d. 1937) * 4 March 1937 – 4 May 1942: Robert Neil Reid (b. 1883 – d. 1964) * 4 May 1942 – 4 May 1947: Sir Andrew Gourlay Clow (b. 1890 – d. 1957) * 15 Mar 1944 – Jul 1944: Mutaguchi Renya (b. 1888 – d. 1966) Mil (Japanese military commander) * 16 Mar 1944 – Jul 1944: A. C. Chatterjee IIL (for the provisional government of Free India) * 4 May 1947 – 15 August 1947: Sir Saleh Hydari (b. 1894 – d. 1948)

Chief ministers

* 1 April 1937 – 19 September 1938: Sir Syed Muhammad Saadulla (b. 1885 – d. 1955),

All-India Muslim League The All-India Muslim League (AIML) was a political party founded in 1906 in Dhaka, British India with the goal of securing Muslims, Muslim interests in South Asia. Although initially espousing a united India with interfaith unity, the Muslim L ...

(1st time) * 19 Sep 1938 – 17 November 1939: Gopinath Bordoloi (b. 1890 – d. 1950)

(1st time) * 17 Nov 1939 – 24 December 1941: Sir Syed Muhammad Saadulla (b. 1885 – d. 1955),

(2nd time) * 24 Dec 1941 – 24 August 1942: Governor's Rule * 25 Aug 1942 – 11 February 1946: Sir Syed Muhammad Saadulla (b. 1885 – d. 1955),

(3rd time) * 11 Feb 1946 – 15 August 1947: Gopinath Bordoloi (b. 1890 – d. 1950)

(2nd time)

Deputy commissioners of the Naga Hills District

* 1912 – 1913: J. K. Webster * 1913 – 1917: H. C. Berners * 1917 – 1935: John Henry Hutton (b. 1885 – d. 1968) * 1935 – 1937: James Philip Mills (b. 1890 – d. 1960) * 1937 – 1947: Charles Ridley Pawsey (b. 1894 – d. 1972)

Demographics

Notes

References

* ''The Imperial Gazetteer of India'' (26 vol, 1908–31), highly detailed description of all of India in 1901
online edition

External links

Integration of the North East: the State Formation Process
(archived 19 February 2014) {{coord, 26.14, N, 91.77, E, region:IN_type:landmark_source:kolossus-svwiki, display=title Provinces of British India History of Assam History of Manipur History of Nagaland Bengal Presidency 1912 establishments in British India 1947 disestablishments in British India States and territories disestablished in 1947