Caught in a time warp: Northeast India’s legacy of Yandaboo Treaty February 24 marked the 200th anniversary of the Treaty of Yandaboo, a pivotal moment in the history of Northeast India. This treaty, signed between the British and the Burmese after the first Anglo-Burmese War, formally ended the occupation of the region by Ava (Burma) under King Bagyidaw. The agreement not only concluded a period of brutal control over the Ahom (Assam) and Manipur kingdoms but also initiated the British takeover of the region and later, Burma itself. The treaty’s terms required Burma to cede Assam and Manipur, territories it had occupied for over seven years, a period remembered as the "Chahi Taret Khuntakpa" in Manipur and the "Manar Upadrab" in Assam. Following the treaty, Assam was annexed and integrated into the British Bengal province, while Manipur and other principalities like Tripura remained as protectorate princely states. Burma’s annexation by Britain occurred in three phases: Arakan and Tenasserim were absorbed after the treaty, Lower Burma including Rangoon was annexed in 1852, and the entire country was taken over in 1885. Scholars note that only the first annexation was a genuine war, while the latter two were strategic moves to expand British control. The Treaty of Yandaboo’s legacy persists in the administrative and socio-economic structures of Northeast India. The British introduced a system that divided the region into two distinct zones: the directly administered revenue plains and the "wild" mountains, which were left unadministered except for occasional punitive actions. This led to the creation of the "Inner Line" in Assam under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation of 1873, a boundary that separated "administered" areas from "unadministered" or "excluded" regions.#assam #manipur #british #burmese #treaty_of_yandaboo
