Upper Assam division | |
|---|---|
| Ahom Kingdom (Ak) | |
 Night view of Upper Assam | |
 Flag | |
 The five divisions of Assam | |
| Country | India |
| State | Assam |
| Population (2021) | |
• Total | 15.5 million |
| Time zone | UTC +05:30 (IST) |
Upper Assam division is anadministrative division of the state ofAssam comprising the undividedLakhimpur andSivasagar (previously, Sivasagar) districts, of the upper reaches of theBrahmaputra Valley. The other divisions are:Lower Assam,North Assam andHills and Barak Valley. The division is under the jurisdiction of a Commissioner.³
Consisting of 7 districts initially, the Upper Assam division now contains 10 districts, that includesSivasagar,Jorhat,Dibrugarh,Dhemaji,Golaghat,Charaideo,Lakhimpur,Majuli,Biswanath, andTinsukia. While Charaideo and Majuli are the newest districts that were raised to district status in 2016,[1][2] Golaghat and Tinsukia are the biggest districts in terms square kilometre area in the region, raised to the district status in the years of 1987 and 1989 respectively.[3][4]
Jorhat,1 Golaghat2 and Dibrugarh3 are also the oldest recognised and constantly inhabited urban centres (municipal areas) in the region based on the earliest years of formation of the civic bodies, constituted before the Indian independence of 1947.[5] Dibrugarh is officially declared Second metropolitan city of Assam by formation of Dibrugarh Municipal Corporation. On 26 January 2025 Honourable Chief Minister of Assam Sri Himanta Biswa Sarmah declared Dibrugarh as Second Capital of Assam which is most developed in industrial, Medical infrastructure along with Transportation hub of entire Upper Assam After Guwahati. Other cities of upper Assam are Tinsukia, Sivasagar, Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Jorhat etc.
An extended list of Upper Assam region also includes the districts ofSonitpur,Karbi AnglongKamrup Metropolitan district &Nagaon. The region is the most productive part of the state of Assam, which is rich in natural resources like coal, oil and natural gas as well as tea plantations.
The medievalChutia Kingdom was on the bank of the riverBrahmaputra. It was a powerful kingdom which had ruled in northeasternAssam and some areas of present-dayArunachal Pradesh, with the capital atSadiya. The kingdom controlled almost the entire region of present Assam districts ofLakhimpur,Dhemaji,Tinsukia andDibrugarh as well as parts ofSonitpur,Golaghat,Jorhat andSivasagar districts. In Arunachal Pradesh, it covered the districts bordering Assam.
TheAhom Kingdom was a kingdom in theBrahmaputra valley in Assam that maintained its sovereignty for nearly 600 years and successfully resistedMughal expansion inNorth-East India. Established bySukaphaa, aTai prince fromMong Mao, it began as aMong in the upper reaches of theBrahmaputra River. It expanded suddenly underSuhungmung in the 16th century after annexing the Chutia kingdom and parts of Kachari kingdom and therefore became multi-ethnic in character. The kingdom became weaker with the rise of theMoamoria rebellion, and subsequently fell to a succession ofBurmese invasions. With the defeat of the Burmese after theFirst Anglo-Burmese War and theTreaty of Yandabo in 1826, control of the kingdom passed into British (East India Company) hands.
The Upper Assam division, comprising 28 percent of Assam's population at 15.56 million, predominantly adheres to Hinduism embraced by nearly 90 percent of its people, with Islam being the second most practiced religion. More than 90 percent of the people speakAssamese.The major communities of Upper assam areAhom,Chutia,Tea tribes,Mishing,Sonowal Kacharis, Moran, Matak,Deori,Thengal Kacharis and indigenous Assamese Muslim communities like Gorias Morias, Gorkhas, Bihari, tribel naga, sumi, Nokte, and others living here from thousands of years
