Globerovers Magazine, July 2019

Myanmar
A BRIEF HISTORY OF NAGALAND
Without going into the deep history of
the Naga people, let us start at the time of
the arrival of the British East India Company
in the early 19th century, followed by
the British Raj—the ruling by the British
of the Indian subcontinent from 1858 to
1947. The colonial interests in the land of
the Naga people were mainly fuelled by
their interest in the region’s oil and mineral
resources, tea and timber, as well as to
control the south-to-east Asian
trade routes.
What once was a large
united area populated by the
Naga people, history left them
divided between arbitrarily
drawn political boundaries.
First came the 1826 Treaty of Peace at Yandaboo,
second the 1934 Pemberton Line,
third the 1935 Government of Burma Act,
and fourth the 1978 Indo-Burma Border
Agreement, all of which disregarded the
interests of the Naga people.
Let us first look at history on the India
side of the divisive border.
While loving the natural resources
of the Naga people, the British
regarded them as wild savage
headhunters.
India and Pakistan gained independence
on August 14, 1947, Naga leaders declared
their independence and named their land
Nagaland, even though India asserted
authority over their new country. Civil
disobedience and an armed struggle began
in 1955 with thousands of Indian troops
battling the slings, bows and arrows of
the Naga tribesmen. Many severed Indian
heads ended up on display outside tribal
homes as proof of their bravery—and the
right to marry the women of their choice.
The Naga people are spread across an area designated by the
governments of India and Myanmar. An area that is significantly
smaller than originally claimed by the Naga people.
In their efforts to appease the Naga’s
violent independence movement, in 1963
India declared Nagaland a self-governing
state with restricted access by foreigners.
However, violence continued and the
ensuing five decades of conflict claimed
about 200,000 Naga lives. Today the
Naga occupy the Indian states of Assam,
Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, and the
state of Nagaland. Fortunately, life is more
peaceful on the India side and tourism is
slowly growing.
Nagaland on the Myanmar side is a
self-administered zone, as stipulated in
the 2008 Constitution of Myanmar, and
officially consists of three townships in
the Sagaing Region: Lahe, Leshi, and
Nanyun. The constitution grants this
self-administered zone legislative powers
over 10 areas of policy, including urban
and rural development, road construction
and maintenance, and public
be held.
health. However, the “selfadministered”
status entails
little meaningful autonomy as
the national (Union) government
still exercises power, even
over issues such as when and
where the New Year festival can
The Myanmar military, the Tatmadaw,
also maintains a presence here with its
soldiers patrolling villages while carrying
weapons, a constant reminder of the
Union government and the military’s firm
grip on the region. Large parts of land outside
the official Nagaland are also claimed
by the Naga but denied by the Myanmar
From the time the first British arrived
in 1832 until about 1852, several battles
were fought with the defending local
Naga tribes, particularly the Angami tribe
known for their “head hunting” practices.
After the bloody battle at Kikrüma where
many died, the British decided to respect
the Naga tribes by adopting a policy of
non-interference. However, the tribes
continued to assert their sovereignty by
raiding the British forces, and hostilities
continued in the Naga Hills well into
the 1900s. By 1922 the British had fully
integrated the Naga Hills into its “British
India” and enforced the Indian rupee as
the local currency. All these changes created
profound social changes among the
Naga people.
The Nagas have never considered
themselves part of India. The day before
104 Globerovers · July 2019