How the British Invaded the North East

It was during 1890-1824 AD that the Maan kings (a kingdom in Burma), ruled Kamrup ( now known
as Assam). They were cruel, inhuman and greedy. They used to harass the people of Kamrup, and
many villages were turn to ashes. The Assamese people who survived this hostile attack from the
invader of Maan, sensing the insecurity of both life and property, fled from villages towards the hills
and jungles. In short, it was really a ‘reign of terror’ in the history of Assam.

But the greed-striken Maan were not satisfied with this and they would go to any lengths to satisfy
their greed. They also dared to touch the British Territories of Gowalpara, Silet and Sitagong. As a
result, the British declared war against Maan in 1824 A. D. The British under the able leadership of
David Scott, defeated Maan and followed them towards the east, defeating the retreating Maan in
many successive battles. The British occupied Jorhat and Rangpur. In 1828 A.D. the whole of Assam
came under the British rule. They started ruling Assam together with Bengal and David Scott was
appointed as the Commissioner of Assam. Their eyes also fell on Manipur and the hills areas of
Assam. But the people of Assam could not bear foreign rule in Assam, and so they revolted against
British. In 1828 A.D., Gondhar Konwar declared himself the Swargadev (King) of Upper Assam.
Seeing this, the British apprehended him and imprisoned him for seven years. In this way many
events started taking place against the British rule. To stop these mutinies, David Scott decided to rule
Upper Assam through an Ahom King, and forwarded his request to the Governor General in Calcutta,
who gave his cnsent. He appointed Purandar Singha , as the Ahom ruler of Upper Assam in 1833. He
had to pay fifty thousand rupees per year to the British as tax. But he was unable to do so, and so the
British dissolved his rule in 1835.

David presented his idea of making a route from Silet to Assam through Hakhlaw in Khasi Hills. To
U Tirot Singh, the king of Hakhlaw, who agreed. But as soon as the construction of the route was
complete, the British soldiers entered into the Khasi Hills. Then the freedom loving Khasi people,
fearing that their liberty was in grave danger, revolted against the British under the leadership of U
Tirot Singh. But the Khasis were defeated and Tirot Singh was arrested and imprisoned at Dacca (now
Dhaka). He breathed his last in the prison. In 1833 A.D., twenty five small territories also came under
the British rule.

In 1894 A.D,, Assam was separated from Bengal and ruled as a single province under a Chief
Commissioner. Colonel Keating was the first Commissioner of Assam and Shillong was set up as the
capital of the whole province.

This was how Assam came under the rule of the British.