This article is on detailed explaination of Assam year book 2023 which is very important for all types of competitive exams in Assam.
Introduction the state of Assam
Assam is called as the North-Eastern sentinel of the frontiers of India, It is a State richly endowed with places of tourist attraction.
Assam is described as the second largest after Arunachal Pradesh, of the ‘Seven Sisters’ comprising the North Eastern States of the country.
Situated in the Himalayan foothills, Assam is known as the land of red river and blue hills.
With an area of 78,438 sq km Assam represents 2.39 percent of the total land area of the country.
Assam is surrounded by international boundaries extending upto nearly 3,200 km.
The mighty river Brahmaputra flows through it, serving as a lifeline for its people settled on both of its banks.
Origin of the name
The word ‘Assam’ is derived from the Sanskrit word Asoma meaning ‘peerless’ or ‘unequalled’.
Assam was known in the epic age as Pragjyotisa or the place of eastern astronomy.
[ Epic age – 1000 to 600BC ]
In Classical Sanskrit literature, Pragjyotisa is also called Kamrupa.
A graphic account of the geography of Pragjyotisa or Kamrupa is to be found in the Kalika Purana (10th century) and the Yogini Tantra (16th century), both of which dwell upon the religio-geographical history of mediaeval Assam.
According to historian Raj Mohan Nath, an ancient race, Chouthius settled in this part of India and they came to be known as Pragjuthis and this is how this part of India came to be known as Pragjyotishpura.
Dr Banikanta Kakoti held forth the view that in Austric language Pragjyotishpura meant a wide hilly terrain.
[ Austric language – The Austric languages refer to a large hypothetical language group primarily spoken in Southeast Asia.
Austric languages in China are distributed in Guangxi, Yunnan, Hainan, and Taiwan. ]
According to some other historians also the ancient name of Assam was Pragjyotishpura – the city of eastern light, which later changed to Kamrupa – the land where Kamdeva, the god of love was re-born.
[ Kamdeva was god of love ]
‘The modern name of the province, Assam, is of recent origin. It is connected with the Ahoms who entered the Brahmaputra valley in the beginning of the 13th century. They say that this was the term applied to them by the native tribes at the time of their invasion of the valley, and was an index of the awe and admiration with which the latter regarded the Ahom conqueror who conciliated them.
Dr Banikanta Kakoti suggests that ‘Asama’, may be a later-day Sanskritization of an earlier form, ‘Acham’.
In Tai, the root ‘cham’ means ‘to be vanquished’. With the Assamese prefix ‘a’, ‘Asam’ or ‘Acham’ would mean ‘undefeated’, ‘victorious’.’ (History of Assamese Literature : Birinchi Kumar Barua)
Some scholars have stated that the word ‘Assam’ denotes the unparalleled beauty of the State.
Lord Baden Powell in his book Indian Village Community states that the Bodo community named this ancient land ‘Sa-Sum’, which with the passage of the time got translated into the modern word assam.
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Location
The state, being T-shaped, is situated in the heart of the north-east corner of Indian subcontinent. The area of Assam extends from latitude 24°10′ N to 27°58′ N and longitude 89°49′ E to 97°26′ E between the foothils of eastern Himalays and the Patkai and Naga Ranges.
Boundaries
Assam is surrounded by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh on the north;
Nagaland, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh on the east;
Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura on the south;
Bangladesh, Meghalaya and West Bengal on the west.
Assam is connected with the rest of the Indian Union by a narrow corridor (called the ‘Chicken’s Neck’ or ‘Bottle Neck’) in West Bengal that runs for 56 km below foothills of Bhutan and Sikkim.
Physiography
The State forms the core of the north-eastern region of the country and provides the focal points of transport and communication lines serving its neighbouring states.
Assam, as it is today, may be divided into three important physical regions: (a) Brahmaputra valley, (b) Barak or Surama valley and (c) the hilly areas of Karbi Anglong and North Cachar Hill districts.
The Brahmaputra Valley is named after the river Brahmaputra.
This alluvial valley commands the lion’s share of the territory.
The almond shaped valley is built mostly by aggregation work of the Brahmaputra and its tributaries.
Most of the prominent towns and cities of Assam are situated in this valley whose length and breadth are 725 km and 80-100km respectively.
The second natural division of Assam is the Barak or Surama Valley which is surrounded by North Cachar, Manipur and Mizoram.
This valley is dominated by the Barak river.
It flows through the valley and finally empties itself to the old bed of Brahmaputra in Bangladesh.
This valley has hills and ‘Beels’ or lakes in plenty. Flood is a common feature lending the quality of fertility to the valley.
The two valleys are separated by long range of hills.
The Karbi Hills and the North Cachar Hills are located in the south of the Brahmaputra valley.
Karbi hills are a part of the Meghalaya plateau. These hills are dotted with plain areas. The average height of this plateau is 600 metres with occasional peaks like Dambukso (1,363 m) and Singhasan (1,359 m).
Greenery is the hallmark of these hills, slowly reaching their full height towards the middle of the Dima Hasao district, merging with the Borail range.
***Borail range – which is the highest hill range in Assam.
The elevation of the Borail range varies from 1,000 to 1,200 metres above sea level. The south side of the Borail range is very steep. It attains a maximum height of 1,959 metres in Laike peak to the east of Haflong.
Laike is the highest peak of Assam. This valley is full of dense forest and rare wildlives.
Assam, is located about 79.5 m above sea level : Sadiya 134 m, Dibrugarh 104 m, Guwahati 50 m, Goalpara 37 m and Dhubri 28 m.
Climate
The climatic is humid, tropical type in the plains and subalpine in the hills, with heavy rainfall and vegetation in green all the year round.
The average temperatures in summer and winter are 36 degree C and 6 degree C respectively.
Rainfall
Rainfall in Assam is one of the highest in the world. It varies between 178 and 305 cm. All this rainfall is concentrated mainly in four months, June to September.
The hills and foothills receive more rainfall. Besides, the districts of Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Sivasagar, Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Kokrajhar,
Baksa, Dhubri in the Brahmaputra valley and the southern most districts of Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj enjoy annual rainfall more than 250 cm on average. On the other hand, Nagaon and Karbi Anglong districts receive relatively low rainfall, having the lowest in the Lanka-Lumding area (average annual rainfall of 129 cm) due to its location on the lee-ward side of the Meghalaya plateau and Karbi Hills.
Earthquake
Being situated in the earthquake belt, Assam experiences earthquake shocks very often.
The Tungkhungia Buranjee, a book on history of the Ahom rule, written in 1696( by Srinath Duara Barbarua ) recorded some important earthquakes of Assam and the entire North Eastern region of India in the mediaeval period.
An earthquake on January 10, 1869 with its epicentre probably at North Cachar hills had ravaged the area between North Cachar and Assam Valley and had made the bank of the Barak sink about 15 feet.
on June 12, 1897 was reportedly so great that stones were flung into air. Its intensity was 8.7 in the Richter Scale. Many houses, buildings, bridges and roads were destroyed. There are cases of upliftment of some areas and sinking of some others. Many river-beds were found to have been raised and many rivers changed their courses. Even a forested foothill area about 40 km. to the south-west of Guwahati sank down to give rise to the present Chand Dubi Lake, which still bears the submerged stumps of the large trees.
August 15, 1950. This earthquake mutilated the whole habitation n Upper Assam. Its tremors read 8.6 in the Richter Scale. This earthquake disturbed the courses and beds of many rivers like the Brahmaputra, Subansiri, Burhi Dihing, Jia Bharali etc. Cause them either to change their courses or by raising the beds resulting in occurence of flood.
The main rivers of Assam are the Brahmaputra and Barak. These rivers have continuous flow throughout the year.
The Brahmaputra is the main river of Assam. Assam is dominated by this river. The source of this river lies towards the east of the ‘Mana Sarovar’, lake in the Himalayas in an ice glacier called ‘Angsi Glacier ‘ (approximately 31 degree north latitude and 42 degree east longitude).
The total length of the river from the source to the sea is 2,880 km and its drainage area is roughly 9,35,000 sq km.
After a 725 km sweep through Assam, it turns south-west beyond Meghalaya and then south, joining the easternmost branch of the Ganga-the Padma – and empties together with Ganga into the Bay of Bengal.
The Brahmaputra has two islands: one is Majuli and the other is Umananda in Guwahati. These islands are believed to the one of the largest (Majuli) and smallest (Umananda, area: 13 bigha 3 katha) river islands in the world.
Majuli had originally an area of 1,256 sq kms (485 sq miles). But due to constant annual erosion, there has been considerable shrinkage of its size Now Majuli has an area of only 880 sq kms (According to Guinness World Record,2016)
The Barak is another important river in the Cachar district of the State. The Barak originated in the Naga Hills, flowing through Manipur and getting bifurcated near Badarpur into Surama and Kushiyara and ultimately entering Bangladesh and margin with the Brahmaputra (the Padma) taking on the name Meghna.
The total length of the Barak is about 900 km. The river Barak used to be an important water-way in the past. Even today it is used by country boats for trade and commerce.