History of Mizoram - British Rule

British Rule

Mizo Hills were formally declared as part of British India by a proclamation in 1895. North and south hills were united into Lushai Hills district in 1898 with Aizawl as its headquarters. The process of the consolidation of the British administration in tribal dominated area in Assam started in 1919 when Lushai Hills, along with some of the other hill districts, was declared a "Backward Tract" under the 1919 Government of India Act. The tribal districts of Assam including Lushai Hills were declared "Excluded Area" in 1935. It was during the British regime that a political awakening among the Mizos in Lushai Hills started taking shape the first political party, the Mizo Common People's Union was formed on 9 April 1946. The Party was later renamed the Mizo Union. As the day of Independence drew nearer, the Constituent Assembly of India set up an advisory committee to deal with matters relating to the minorities and the tribal members. A sub-committee, under the chairmanship of Gopinath Bordoloi was formed to advise the Constituent Assembly on the tribal affairs in the North East. The Mizo Union submitted a resolution of this Sub-committee demanding inclusion of all Mizo inhabited areas adjacent to Lushai Hills. However, a new party called the United Mizo Freedom Organization (UMFO) came up to demand that Lushai Hills join Burma after Independence.

The first missionaries who came to Mizoram was Rev. William Williams, a Welsh missionary who at that time was a missionary in Khasi Hills, North East India (now Meghalaya). He came into Mizoram in 1891 and preached the Gospel among some of the villages. On January 11, 1894, F.W. Savidge and J.H. Lorrain, commissioned by Arthington Aborigines Mission, reached Mizoram.Rev. RA Lorrain, younger brother of Rev. JH Lorrain and founder of the Evangelical Church of Maraland (est.1907) was the first pioneering missionary to the Mara people in the southernmost part of Mizoram state, completing the task of evangelizing the people of the whole state - Presbyterians in the north, Baptists in the middle and Evangelicals in the south.