Northeast India · Assam
Assam
Sources: wikimedia
About Assam
- Riverside
Where it is
Assam is a state in north-east India, spread along the wide valleys of the Brahmaputra and Barak rivers below the eastern Himalaya, bordering Bhutan and Bangladesh; its capital is Dispur, in Guwahati.
History
Ancient Kamarupa was ruled by the Varman dynasty and others. From 1228 the Ahom kingdom held the Brahmaputra valley for nearly six centuries, famously defeating the Mughals at the Battle of Saraighat in 1671. Burmese invasions were followed by British rule after the Treaty of Yandabo in 1826, and tea estates spread across the valley; several north-eastern states were later carved out of Assam.
People
Assamese and Bodo are official languages, with Bengali official in the Barak Valley, and the state is home to many communities, among them the Bodo, Mising, Karbi and Dimasa, and the tea-garden communities. Rongali Bihu, the spring festival, is celebrated with dance and song across the state.
Known for
- Assam tea
- Kaziranga and its one-horned rhinoceroses
- Majuli river island
- Muga silk and the gamosa
- Bihu dances and festivals
Did you know?
Kaziranga National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, holds the world's largest population of the greater one-horned rhinoceros.
We haven't written a guide for this place yet — you can still plan a trip here.