Shillong Subdivision, 1908
Shillong Subdivision
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Subdivision of the Khasi and Jaintia Hills District, Eastern Bengal and Assam, lying between 25 7' and 26 7' N. and 90 45' and 92 16' E., with an area of 3,941 square miles. It contains one town, SHILLONG (population, 8,384), the head-quarters of the Administration; and 1,199 villages. The sub- division is a section of the Assam Range, and consists of a high table- land, which rises sharply from the Surma Valley to a height of about 4,000 feet, and north of the Shillong peak, which is over 6,000 feet, gradually falls away in a succession of low hills towards the Brahma- putra.
Almost the whole of this country is outside the limits of British India, and consists of a number of petty Native States under the politi- cal superintendence of the Deputy-Commissioner. The majority of the indigenous inhabitants are Khasis, a tribe of Tibeto-Burman origin, which is possibly connected with the Mons of Anam.and Cambodia. Coal is found in both the Nummulitic and Cretaceous strata, and there are enormous deposits of limestone on the southern face of the -hills, The rainfall in this region is extraordinary, the average annual fall at CHERRAPUNJI being 458 inches. The clouds, however, quickly lose their moisture, and at Shillong, which is less than 30 miles away, the fall is but 82 inches. The population in 1901 was 134,329, com- pared with 133,383 in 1891, the density being only 34 persons per square mile.
