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People: Population Composition

The people of Assam are mainly of Indo-Iranian ancestry, though some groups like the Ahom arrived later from Southeast Asia. The population includes both Hindus and Muslims, with Hindus being the majority. Assamese is the main language, though Bengali is also spoken in the Barak valley. Most people live rurally, though urban populations are growing due to immigration from Bangladesh and the growth of industry in cities like Guwahati.

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64 views4 pages

People: Population Composition

The people of Assam are mainly of Indo-Iranian ancestry, though some groups like the Ahom arrived later from Southeast Asia. The population includes both Hindus and Muslims, with Hindus being the majority. Assamese is the main language, though Bengali is also spoken in the Barak valley. Most people live rurally, though urban populations are growing due to immigration from Bangladesh and the growth of industry in cities like Guwahati.

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Madhu
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People

Population composition
The people of the plains of the Brahmaputra and
Barak valleys are mainly of Indo-Iranian ancestry.
By the time of their arrival in the region, however,
the local Aryan peoples had become intermixed with
Asiatic peoples. The Ahom people, who arrived in
the region from mainland Southeast Asia during the
13th century, ultimately stem from Yunnan province
of southern China. A significant minority of the
population consists of rural indigenous peoples who
fall outside the Indian caste system; as such, they are
officially designated as Scheduled Tribes.
The Boro constitute the largest of these groups. Most
of the Scheduled Tribes live in the south-central hill
region and are of Asiatic descent.
Assamese, an Indo-Aryan language, is the official
and principal language of the state, and an unbroken
record of Assamese literary history is traceable from
the 14th century. Tibeto-Burman languages are
spoken by most of the Scheduled Tribes, although
the Khasi people speak an Austroasiatic tongue;
some groups have adopted Assamese as their first
language. The people in the Barak valley in southern
Assam mostly speak Bengali (also called Bangla),
which, like Assamese, is an Indo-Aryan language.
About two-thirds of the Assamese are Hindus, the
majority of whom follow Vaishnavism, which
venerates the deity Vishnu. Roughly one-fourth of
the population practices Islam, most Muslims being
settlers from Bangladesh or converts from the lower
strata of Hindu society. Although many of the
Scheduled Tribes have converted to Christianity,
some continue to practice traditional local religions;
the Mikir and Kachari peoples are mostly Hindus.

Shaiva temple in Sibsagar, Assam, India.Foto Features


Settlement patterns and demographic
trends
The great majority of Assam’s people live in
rural areas. The distribution of population is
uneven, however, reflecting the hilly terrain,
the number of rivers, the forests, the small
amount of cultivable land, and the lack of
industrialization. The agricultural zone of
the Barak River valley supports relatively
dense settlement.
Since the late 20th century, population
growth has been unusually rapid, mostly due
to immigration into Assam of tea garden
labourers, herders from Nepal, Muslims
from West Bengal, and refugees from
Bangladesh. Increasing population in the
state’s urban areas reflects not only the
growth of industries and the expansion of
commercial activity but also the tendency of
many of the immigrants—particularly those
from Bangladesh—to live near towns. In the
early 21st century Guwahati had the most
significant urban population.
Aerial view of Guwahati, Assam, India.Rituraj
Bhuyan

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