page_title: Hill tribes of Northeast India
section_title: Mizoram
hierarchical_section_title: Hill tribes of Northeast India / States / Mizoram
caption_attribution_description: river hills boat sport
context_page_description: The hill tribes of Northeast India are hill people, mostly classified as Scheduled Tribes, who live in the Northeast India region.
  This region has the largest proportion of scheduled tribes in the country.
  Northeast India comprises the former British province of Assam and part or all of the former princely states of Manipur, Tripura and Sikkim.
  There are areas of plains in the modern State of Assam, but otherwise the region is mostly hilly or mountainous. The hills have long been populated with Tibeto-Burman and Sino-Tibetan hill people, some of whom originate in other parts of the Himalayas or of Southeast Asia.
  There are many distinct groups with unique languages, dress, cuisine and culture.
  The British made little effort to integrate the hill people into British India, but governed through a system of village chiefs and headmen. They gave these leaders greater authority than they had traditionally enjoyed.
  In some areas Protestant missionaries converted the people to Christianity and educated an elite. This elite pushed for greater autonomy for the hill people within the state of Assam, and obtained some autonomy at a district level after Indian independence in 1947.
context_section_description: Mizoram was a district of Assam under the British.
  It lies between Bangladesh to the west and Myanmar to the south and east.
  It borders Tripura to the northwest, Assam to the north and Manipur to the northeast.
  It is a mountainous region with hills that run from north to south, highest in the east.
  The average height of the hills is around 900 metres (3,000 ft), with the highest peak being Phawngpui (Blue Mountain) at 2,210 metres (7,250 ft).
  About 95% of the population is of diverse tribal origins who settled in the state, mostly from Southeast Asia, in waves of migration starting about the 16th century but mainly in the 18th century.
  This is the highest concentration of tribal people among all states of India.
  The Mizo people are protected as a Scheduled Tribe.
  The term Mizo is used to define an overall ethnicity, and covers various related peoples who claim descent from Sinlung, a mythical rock north of the Shan State of Myanmar.
  The include the Khiangte, Renthlei, Lawitlang, Zote, Thiek, Ralte, Khowbung, Lusei etc.
  The Mizo Union held back from the hill state movement , then joined the Mizo National Front supported by former chiefs in demanding a separate Mizo state.
  During the famine of 1958–59 the Indian state failed to provide aid to the hill people, and this neglect led to the Mizo armed uprising.
  Mizoram was detached from Assam as a Union territory in 1972.
  The 1986 Mizo Accord, reached after careful consultation as part of a peace process, was relatively successful.
  The Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of India and the Mizo National Front resulted in creation of the State of Mizoram.
  Mizoram became the 23rd state of India in February 1987.
  The Mizo movement had at first been based on creating a state based on a shared geographical location, rather than a state for the majority Lushai ethnic group.
  However the many non-Lushai groups were overlooked in the Mizo Accord, and the Brus and Hmars began to demand autonomous district or regional councils.
  Later the Mizoram state government and the Hmar People's convention came to an agreement after nine rounds of talks.
  The 1994 Memorandum of Settlement between the Mizoram State Government and the Hmar People's Convention led to formation of the Sinlung Hills Development Council (changed to Sinlung Hills Council in 2018).
  It took thirteen rounds of talks for the Mizoram government to strike an agreement with the Bru National Liberation Front.
caption: Chhimtuipui (top) and Tuipui river of Mizoram
exif: {}