History
"Jorhat" or "Jorehaut" means two hats or mandis-“Macharhat” and “Chowkihat” which existed on the two different banks of the river Bhugdoi during the 18th century, Jorhat was the last capital of the Ahom Kingdom. In 1794 the Ahom king Gaurinath Singha shifted the capital from Sibsagar (erstwhile ”Rangpur”) to Jorhat. This town was a flourishing and commercial metropolis but completely destroyed after a series of the Burmese invasions since 1817 till the arrival of the British force in 1824 under the Stewardship of David Scott and Captain Richard.
The British rule, though, was not free from rebellions and revolutions, contributed to reemergence of this historical town. From the very first decade of the British rule, the great revolutionists who emerged were Gomdhar Konwar, Jeuram and Piyali, British system of administration, came into vogue in 1839 with an established Police Thana. During the great “Sepoy Mutiny” the anti-British plot hatched by Maniram Dewan and Piyali Barua was sabotaged, and these leaders were hanged in public at this very place in 1858.
In 1885, a narrow-gauge train service (Jorhat Provincial Railway) had come into operation and ultimately became instrumental in rapid growth of tea industry.
Though the civil sub-division under Sibsagar district at Jorhat was formed in 1869, this great place was declared as administration head quarter of the undivided Sibsagar district in 1911, which comprised the present Sibsagar, Jorhat and Golaghat and parts of Karbi-Anglong district with Major A. Playfare as the first deputy commissioner.
The modern-day district of Jorhat was created in 1983 when it was split from Sibsagar district.
Read more about this topic: Jorhat District
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