Author:

Dr Pum Khan Pau
Professor
Department of History & Archaeology
Nagaland University
Kohima, Pin 797004

Email: puapau@gmail.com

Abstract::The 1937 separation of Burma from India, often overlooked as a partition, significantly impacted indigenous hill tribes on the Indo-Burma frontier. This paper examines how colonial administration divided these tribes, focusing on the Zo people, and argues that this ‘forgotten’ partition created transborder communities in the India-Myanmar borderland. These communities, now straddling newly formed international boundaries, faced unique challenges to their socio-political and cultural identities. Furthermore, the divergent post-colonial trajectories of India and Myanmar further exacerbated these divisions, as differing governance structures and development policies reshaped the lives of the Zo and other hill tribes on either side of the border. This paper will draw on archival sources and ethnographic studies to illuminate the long-term consequences of this ‘forgotten’ partition on the Indo-Burma frontier, highlighting the enduring legacies of colonial boundary-making in shaping contemporary ethnic and political dynamics.

Key Words::Colonialism, Crown Colony, Indo-Burma Frontier, Hill Tribes, Partition