State Inauguration Day in Nagaland Date in the current year: December 1, 2024

Nagaland is situated in northeastern India. It is bordered by Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, and Myanmar. The majority of the population of Nagaland is constituted by the Naga people, which is not surprising seeing as the name of the state means “the land of the Nagas”.

The Nagas have lived in what is now Nagaland since ancient times. Although it is unclear where they came from and when exactly they settled in the region, the Naga people are believed to have arrived before the establishment of the Ahom kingdom in 1228. Their lands weren’t part of any kingdom, although Burma did try to conquer them multiple times.

Everything changed in the early 19th century, when the British East India Company arrived in the Indian subcontinent and began its colonization. The English made their first contact with the Naga tribes in 1832. It was far from smooth, leading to a string of conflicts between the British and the locals. The Nagas raided British trading posts situated too close to their lands, and the British retaliated with military expeditions.

Following a particularly bloody battle in 1851, the British adopted a policy of non-interference and caution, which however did not prevent them from trying to annex the Nagas’ lands. After the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the control of India was transferred from the East India Company to the British Empire and the British Crown claimed control of the Naga Hills.

It took the British until 1922 to consolidate their power over most of the mountainous region where the Nagas lived. Most of what is now Nagaland was included into Assam. In 1929, the so-called Naga Club submitted a memorandum to the Indian Statutory Commission requesting that the Naga people be except from any reforms introduced by the British Empire and be given the right to self-determination.

In the final days of the British Raj, the Nagas attempted to achieve sovereignty as a nation. Eventually the Naga National Council signed an agreement with the Indian government recognizing the Nagas’ right to self-determination. Following India’s independence, the Naga Hills District was administered as part of Assam.

Many Nagas were dissatisfied with a lack of autonomy and continued to campaign for the creation of a separate region of the Naga Hills throughout the 1950s. In 1957, Nagaland split from Assam and became a union territory administered by the central government of India with a significant degree of autonomy.

However it still wasn’t enough to satisfy the tribes. In 1960, the government of India promised to transform Nagaland into a full-fledged state. Following a transitional period, Nagaland was formally inaugurated as the 16th state of India on December 1, 1963. The anniversary of this event is now celebrated as Nagaland Statehood Day, also known as State Inauguration Day.