Lower Assam division is one of the 5 administrative divisions of Assam in India. It was formed in 1874, consisting of the undivided Kamrup district of Western Assam, undivided Darrang and Nagaon districts of Central Assam and Khasi & Jaintia hills of Meghalaya, created for revenue purposes.
History
Around 1498-1502, Sultan Alauddin Hussain Shah of Gaur conquered parts of Lower Assam during the Bengal-Kamata War."The annexation of the Khen Kingdom up to Hajo was, however, not completed before Ramzan 907/10 March 1502..." The Sultan appointed his son, Shahzada Danyal, as the governor of the newly conquered region; that reached up to Hajo and intended to expand to Central Assam. Danyal governed Kamata for several more years until the Assamese Bhuyans led by Harup Narayan led a campaign against him. In this campaign, the Bhuyans seized and killed Danyal and his officers, thus ending the Sultanate's short rule over the territory some time before 1509."But the rule of the Muslims was short. The Bhuyans made a united attack on Daniel's garrison and destroyed it to the last man." Musundar Ghazi succeeded Danyal as Bengal's representative in Kamrup. Some parts of Lower assam districts were under rule of the Kingdom of Bhutan until the 19th century.
Districts Lower Assam division contains 12 districts, namely Dhubri, South Salamara, Kokrajhar, Chirang, Bongaigaon, Goalpara, Barpeta, Bajali, Nalbari, Baksa, Kamrup and Kamrup metropolitan. Among these, 3 districts namely Kokrajhar, Chirang and Baksa lie within Bodoland.
CodeISO 3166 District Headquarter Population (2011) Area (km²) Density (/km²) BK Baksa# Mushalpur 950,075 2,457 387 - Bajali Pathsala 253,816600423 BP Barpeta Barpeta 1,439,806 2,645 544 BO Bongaigaon Bongaigaon 738,804 1,093 676 CH Chirang# Kajalgaon 482,162 1,170 412 DU Dhubri Dhubri 1,394,144 1,608 867 GP Goalpara Goalpara 1,008,183 1,824 553 KM Kamrup Metropolitan Guwahati1,253,938 1,528 821 KU Kamrup Rangia1,517,542 3,105 489 KJ Kokrajhar# Kokrajhar887,142 3,169 280 NB Nalbari Nalbari771,639 2,257 342 SSM South Salmara-Mankachar Hatsingimari 555,114 568 977Total12—1,12,52,36522,024511 # Districts within the Bodoland Territorial Region
Demographics As per the 2011 census, Lower Assam division has a population of 11,501,873 people.
Languages
According to the 2011 census, the total number of Assamese speakers in the division were 59,61,583, Bengali speakers were 34,76,953, Boro speakers were 8,70,198 and Hindi speakers were 3,17,958. Although the Bengali speaking population was 30.9% as per the 2011 census language report, Lower Assam Division is home to a large Muslim population of Bengali origin, most of whom now identify as Assamese speakers in the census.
Religion Total population of Lower Assam Division is 11,501,873. Among them, Hindus are 5,659,063, Muslims are 5,474,223 and 368,587 follow other religions.
District HinduMuslim Other Kamrup Metropolitan84.8912.053.06Kamrup57.8239.662.52Dubri26.0773.490.44Goalpara34.5157.527.97Barpeta22.2777.580.15Bongaigaon48.6150.221.17South Salmara Mankachar4.4995.190.32Chirang66.5022.6610.84Kokrajhar59.6428.4411.92Nalbari69.1130.560.33Bajali67.9031.910.19Baksa82.4014.292.32
See also Upper Assam Division Central Assam division North Assam division Barak Valley
References
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