The Chin Hills are a range of mountains in
Chin State
Chin State (, ) is a state in western Myanmar. Chin State is bordered by Sagaing Division and Magway Division to the east, Rakhine State to the south, the Chattogram Division of Bangladesh to the west, and the Indian states of Mizoram to th ...
, northwestern
Burma (Myanmar), that extends northward into
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
's
Manipur
Manipur () is a state in northeastern India with Imphal as its capital. It borders the Indian states of Assam to the west, Mizoram to the south, and Nagaland to the north and shares the international border with Myanmar, specifically t ...
state.
Geography
The highest peak in the Chin Hills is
Khonu Msung, Nat Ma Taung, or Mount Victoria, in southern Chin State, which reaches . The
Chin Hills–Arakan Yoma montane forests ecoregion
An ecoregion (ecological region) is an ecological and geographic area that exists on multiple different levels, defined by type, quality, and quantity of environmental resources. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and c ...
has diverse forests with
pine
A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae.
''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as cu ...
,
camellia
''Camellia'' (pronounced or ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. They are found in tropical and subtropical areas in East Asia, eastern and South Asia, southern Asia, from the Himalayas east to Japan and Indonesia. There are ...
and
teak
Teak (''Tectona grandis'') is a tropical hardwood tree species in the family Lamiaceae. It is a large, deciduous tree that occurs in mixed hardwood forests. ''Tectona grandis'' has small, fragrant white flowers arranged in dense clusters (panic ...
.
Falam is the largest town in the Chin Hills, lying at their southern edge.
The Chin Hills are the eastern part of the
Patkai Range, which includes the
Lushai Hills and runs through
Nagaland
Nagaland () is a States and union territories of India, state in the northeast India, north-eastern region of India. It is bordered by the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh to the north, Assam to the west, Manipur to the south, and the Naga Sel ...
in India, as well as part of Burma. The Lushai Hills are frequently discussed with the Chin Hills as the topography, people's culture and history are similar. The southern prolongation of the Chin Hills is the
Arakan Range (Arakan Yoma), stretching as well from north to south.
History
Historically the area of the range has been populated by the
Chin people
The Chin peoples (, ) are collection of ethnic groups native to the Chin State, Myanmar that speak the Kuki-Chin-Mizo languages, which are closely related but mutually unintelligible. The Chin identity, as a pan-ethnic identity, is a modern c ...
who like their neighbours to the west are a
Laimi people. In addition to
subsistence agriculture
Subsistence agriculture occurs when farmers grow crops on smallholdings to meet the needs of themselves and their families. Subsistence agriculturalists target farm output for survival and for mostly local requirements. Planting decisions occu ...
the Chin raided the villages of the Burman on the plains of the
Myittha and
Chindwin
The Chindwin River (), also known as the Ningthi River (), is a river in Myanmar and is the largest tributary of the Irrawaddy River.
Sources
The Chindwin originates in the broad Hukawng Valley of Kachin State of Burma, roughly
, where the Tanai ...
rivers, as well as each other.
[Ireland, Alleyne (1907) ''The province of Burma: a report prepared on behalf of the University of Chicago'' Houghton-Mifflin, Boston, Massachusetts,]
volume 2, page 790
In 1888, the British began a military campaign to end these raids which resulted in pacification of the province by 1896,
and it was administratively added to Burma as a special division.
In the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
the hills formed a point of armed conflict between Japanese forces and a combined British and Indian force.
See also
*
Arakan Mountains
*
Chin Hills-Arakan Yoma montane forests
Notes
External links
*
Burma - GeographyGoogle Books, ''The Physical Geography of Southeast Asia''
*
Hills of Myanmar
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