Assam, a province at the NE. extremity of British India, stretching in N. lat. between 23° and 28°, and in E. long. between 89° and 97°, with an area of 46,341 sq. m. In 1874 it was formed into a separate administration (including Cachar) under a chief-commissioner. It consists of a fertile series of valleys, watered by the Brahmaputra and more than sixty lesser rivers. It is thus very fertile, and abounds in wood. The tea-plant is indigenous, and some believe that the Thea assamiensis is the original of the Chinese plant. Since 1840, when its commercial cultivation was begun, 600,000 acres have been taken up for tea; in 1882 there were over 1000 gardens. Some three-fourths of the tea grown in India is the produce of Assam; and between 1875 and 1895 the total exports of Indian tea increased from 25,000,000 lb. to near 120,000,000 lb. Coolies are imported from Western Bengal for the work in the tea-gardens. The other products are rice, mustard, gold, ivory, amber, musk, iron, lead, petroleum, and coal. From Bengal the principal imports are woollens, India fabrics, salt, opium, glass, earthenware, tobacco, betel, &c. For want of population, scarcely a fourth of the fertile area is cultivated. There is railway and steamboat communication with Calcutta. The development of the rich coal-fields is of increasing importance; the annual output is now over 170,000 tons.
In 1826, at the close of the first Burmese war, Assam was ceded to the British. The upper portion of the province, however, was conferred, as a separate principality, on the native rajah, whom the Burmese had expelled; and it was only in 1838, that in consequence of his misgovernment, the entire country was placed under British administration. Since then the province has exhibited a noticeable improvement. The population being rural and agricultural, the only towns of any size are Gauhati (12,000) and Sebsagar (6000). The peasantry are indolent, good-natured, and fairly prosperous, short and robust in person, with a flat face and high cheekbones, and coarse black hair. A majority of the people are Hindus. In 1883 there were 1500 educational institutions, with an attendance of 50,000 pupils.
One of the most striking features of Assam is the abundance of wild animals, such as tigers, rhinoceroses, leopards, bears, buffaloes, and elephants. The snakes are the most destructive to human life. Some 400 people are killed every year by wild animals, for whose destruction about £1000 is yearly paid as a reward. The forests seem with game, and the rivers with fish. Pop. (1872) 4,124,972; (1881) 4,881,426; (1891) 5,476,833—112 per sq. mile. See Hunter's Statistical Account of Assam (1880).