East Siang district

The plains, foothills and lower hills of the district formed part of the Chutia kingdom, which tradition holds was founded in 1187 CE by the chieftain Birpal in the area around present-day Sadiya.^[2] At its height the Chutia state extended over the Abor, Miri and Mishmi hills as well as the plains of upper Assam, and controlled the region that now makes up East Siang.^[3] The kingdom fell to the Ahom kingdom around 1523 to 1524, after which the higher hill country was left under the effective control of the Adi people, who resisted both Ahom and later British attempts to extend authority over them. Archaeological evidence of the Chutia period survives at the site of Gomsi, about 15 kilometres southwest of Pasighat, where excavations in 1996 revealed brick structures, pottery and iron spearheads attributable to the pre-Ahom period.^[4]

The Adi traditionally refer to themselves through clan and sub-group rather than by the collective name the British used. East Siang district was first settled by Dibu-marang clans, who were later displaced by the Padam clan, a sub-tribe of the Adi. The Padam in turn moved alongside their close ally the Pasi, with the Padam settling near Mone and the Pasi near Balek. An epidemic in the Mone area, which the communities attributed to spiritual causes, subsequently forced the Padam to retreat from that settlement. The district's main tribal groups today include the Padam, Pasi, Minyong and Galo sub-tribes of the Adi, alongside the Mising of the plains.^[5]

The Adi resisted British encroachment through a series of four conflicts between 1858 and 1912, known in Adi oral tradition respectively as the Bitbor Mimak (1858), the Bongal Mimak (1859), the Nijom Mimak (1893 to 1894) and the Poju Mimak (1911 to 1912).^[6] The term "Abor", applied to the Adi by the British throughout this period, was later rejected by the community as derogatory; after independence, the people successfully petitioned to be recognised under their own name as a scheduled tribe. The fourth and final war was triggered by the killing of Assistant Political Officer Noel Williamson and his party at Komsing village on 31 March 1911 by Adi warriors including Lunrung Tamuk and Matmur Jamoh.^[7] The Adi held out for over three months at the cliffs of Kekar Monying along the Siang River before the British Abor Expeditionary Force broke through. The site is now a war heritage memorial.^[8]

Pasighat was founded in 1911 by the British Raj as the administrative headquarters for the Abor Hills district, the first such headquarters established in the region.^[9] The town takes its name from the Pasi, one of the Adi sub-tribes who were among its original inhabitants. An Inner Line restricted outside movement into the tribal territory, and the district was governed by an Assistant Political Officer whose work depended heavily on political interpreters drawn from local communities. Among the longest-serving of these officers was Peter Loren Seton James, who held the post in the final years of British rule. James spoke Adi fluently and was recognised as an authority on Moshup Abang, a form of traditional Adi oral verse. He was known to the Adi by several names: Jam Haap, Jame Sab and Jame Migom.^[10] Among those who worked with him were the interpreter Apok Tayeng, whose son Annayok James Tayeng became the first Indian Administrative Service officer from the Adi community, and Tati Lego of Mebo circle, who was appointed Political Interpreter by James and went on to serve under NEFA and later the Arunachal Pradesh government until his retirement in 1983.^[11][12]

As independence approached, Indian National Congress activists organised in the district. Moje Riba of what is now West Siang district established the Dipa Congress Committee and hoisted the Indian national flag at Dipa village on 15 August 1947, the first such ceremony in the region.^[13] James formally transferred the administration of the Abor Hills district to the Government of India in September 1948, more than a year after independence. At the handover he delivered a farewell address to the Adi communities of the Siang valley urging them to preserve their culture and to educate their children as a means of protecting that inheritance.^[10] The district was subsequently absorbed into the North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) in 1951. The headquarters for the Siang division shifted from Pasighat to Along in 1952, and the first airfield in Arunachal Pradesh was opened near Paglek that year. The first Agricultural Institute in the territory was established at Pasighat in 1950.^[14]

In 1989 territory was transferred from West Siang district to East Siang.^[15] A decade later, in 1999, the district was bifurcated to create Upper Siang district.^[15]

The district headquarters are located at Pasighat. East Siang district occupies an area of 4,005 square kilometres (1,546 sq mi),^[16] comparatively equivalent to Indonesia's Nias Island.^[17]

There are 5 Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly constituencies located in this district: Pasighat West, Pasighat East, and Mebo. All of these are part of Arunachal East Lok Sabha constituency.^[18] The district consists of 6 circles: Mebo, Namsing, Sile-Oyan, Pasighat, Bilat and Ruksin.

According to the 2011 census East Siang district has a population of 99,214,^[20] roughly equal to the nation of Kiribati.^[21] This gives it a ranking of 615th in India (out of a total of 640).^[20] The district has a population density of 27 inhabitants per square kilometre (70/sq mi) .^[20] Its population growth rate over the decade 2001–2011 was 13.3%.^[20] East Siang has a sex ratio of 962 females for every 1000 males,^[20] and a literacy rate of 73.54%.^[20] After division, the residual district has a population of 70,956. Scheduled Tribes make up 46,334 which is 65.30% of the population.^[22]

In 1978 East Siang district became home to the D’Ering Memorial (Lali) Wildlife Sanctuary, which has an area of 190 km² (73.4 mi²).^[26]