Originally a part of
Bhutan, this region came under the control of
Koch king
Vishwa Singha in the early 16th century. Around 1562, the successor king
Nara Narayan determined that the Meches and Koches peoples north of the newly constructed
Gohain Kamal Ali road could follow their indigenous customs whereas peoples to its south had to follow Hindu Brahmanical rites. After the split of the Koch kingdom and subsequent collapse of the eastern
Koch Hajo due to the
Mughals and during the period of
Ahom-Mughal conflicts in early 17th century the Bhutan kingdom pushed south and took control of the region down to the Gohain Kamal Ali. Following the
Battle of Itakhuli in 1681 the
Ahom kingdom consolidated their rule up to the
Manas river in the west and the region north of the Gohain Kamal Ali road, divided into different
Duars, fell into its possession. The Ahoms soon faced trouble from the Bhutanese, in the form of incursions, raids, and violent opposition, beginning about 1688, to tax collection by the Ahoms. Eventually these clashes came to an end with a written agreement. and those between Barnadi River and
Dhansiri River were collectively known as
Darrang Duars. The
Duars to the west of Goalpara were called
Western Duars. The
Duars in the
Goalpara region (which was outside the Ahom kingdom) were under Bhutan's control, but the administration of the Duars to east were shared between Bhutan or
Tibet and the Ahom kingdom under different mechanisms. The
Duars in the Kamrup region followed the
posa system in which the Bhutanese were given possession of the duars in lieu of an annual payment; and those in the Darrang region were alternately controlled by the Bhutanese and the Ahoms in an annual cycle. The Bhutanese control over these regions were via local authorities, not ethnic Bhutanese, who were appointed by Bhutanese provincial governors called
Ponlops After the British took control of Ahom kingdom in 1826, they maintained the Ahom-Bhutan arrangement for a while but the payments made in kind and the shared administration were something the colonial administration was unwilling to maintain and annexed the Kamrup and Darrang Duars in 1841 and the Kariapar Duar in 1844; and following the
Duar War in 1865 took complete possession of the Duars and removed Bhutanese interest from the Goalpara and Western Duars for good. The Duars associated with the historical regions of
Goalpara,
Kamrup, and
Darrang were then added to these districts.
Demand for statehood Along with the other parts of
Northeast India, regional aspiration in the region reached a turning point in the 1980s. The isolation of the region, its complex social character, and its backwardness compared to other parts of the country have all resulted in the complicated set of demands ranging from demand for autonomy and opposition to migrants to movements for secession. The region is also the gateway to the
North Eastern Region of India, where one of the main students organisation, All Bodo Students Union (ABSU), allied with
National Democratic Front of Boroland – Progressive (NDFB-P),
National Democratic Front of Boroland – D.R. Nabla faction, People's Joint Action Committee for Boroland Movement (PJACBM) which is an amalgamation of over three dozen Bodo organisations and its supporters are demanding the
Government of India create a separate state (within the Indian Union) comprising the seven Assam districts –
Kokrajhar,
Chirang,
Baksa,
Udalguri,
Sonitpur,
Lakhimpur and
Dhemaji – which have a significant Bodo population. On the other hand, it is also claimed as a sovereign state (complete independence from India) by the separatist insurgent group
NDFB.
1993 and 2003 peace agreements Following an agreement in 1993, Bodoland became an
autonomous administrative unit constituted under the
Sixth Schedule of the
Constitution of India covering an area of 8,795 km2 administered by the Bodoland Autonomous Council. Following a further peace agreement, the Bodoland Territorial Council was formed in 2003, with a mission to accomplish development in the area of economic, education, preservation of land right, linguistic aspiration, socio-culture and ethnic identity of Bodos and above all to speed up the infrastructure development of communities in the Bodoland area. The actual functioning of the council was started on 7 December 2003 by constituting the 12 members of the Council provisionally. After the Council Election on 13 May 2005 and subsequent bye-election in November 2005, the 40-member Legislative Council has been formed to look after the development works in the Bodoland Territorial Area Districts. The remaining six members are nominated by the Governor of Assam from the unrepresented Communities. Thus there are altogether 46 members of the council, representing all communities of the BTC Area known as Member of Council Legislative Assembly (MCLA).
2020 peace agreement and the formation of the Bodoland Territorial Region A new peace agreement was signed on 27 January 2020 between the
Government of India and the
Government of Assam on one side and the
National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), the All Bodo Students’ Union and United Bodo People's Organisation on the other. Under the terms of this agreement, a Bodoland Territorial Region was formed with enhanced executive and legislative powers. The Bodoland Territorial Council will have competency over almost all areas defined by the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of India and its membership will be increased to 60. The boundary of BTR will be redrawn to make Boro speakers majority within the region. This will be done by forming new districts and the boundary of the region will be adjusted to include contiguous Bodo inhabited areas from neighbouring districts and exclude the non-Bodo inhabited territories which are currently under the jurisdiction of the BTC. On 26 January 2023, Assam Chief Minister
Himanta Biswa Sarma have decided to include 60 more villages which have at least 80%
Bodo population in the Bodoland Territorial Region, in order to make Bodo-speakers a slight majority. Bodoland will also have the right to autonomously be represented at national level sports and cultural events such as the
National Games of India and the
Khelo India Youth Games. The agreement also makes the Bodo language with Devnagri script an associate official language of Assam. ==Government and politics==