Ao Naga

The Aos are one of the major Naga tribes of Nagaland, Northeast India. They are first among all the Naga tribes to embrace Christianity and by virtue of this development the Aos avail themselves to Western education that came along with Christianity. In the process the Aos became the pioneering tribe among the Nagas in many fields. Christianity first entered into the Ao territory when an American Baptist missionary Edwin W. Clark reached an Ao village called Molungkimong in 1872. Their main territory is from Tsula (Dikhu) Valley in the east to Tsurang (Disai) Valley in the west in Mokokchung district. They are well known for multiple harvest festivals held each year.

Population

According to the 2010 census of India, Ao Nagas number 231,823.

Distribution

Ao Nagas are found in the north-eastern part of Nagaland, mostly in the central Mokokchung District and also a few are found in the adjacent Assam state. Mokokchung, one of the districts in Nagaland, is considered as the home of the Ao Naga tribe. It covers an area of 1,615 km² and is bounded by Assam to its north, Wokha to its west, Tuensang to its east, and Zunheboto to its south. The physiography of the district shows six distinct hill ranges which are more or less parallel to each other and run in the south-east direction.