Yandabo Treaty of 1826: How British annexed Assam and the Northeast

200 years ago, on 24th February 1826, the British took over Assam and the Northeast region using the farcical Yandabo Treaty signed between representatives of the British East India Company (EIC) and the King of Ava (Burma/Myanmar). This treaty was ratified by the Governor-General in Council at Fort William in Bengal on 11th April, 1826.

Read Article 2 of the Yandabo Treaty, where Assam is mentioned: "His Majesty the King of Ava renounces all claims upon, and will abstain from all future interference with, the principality of Assam and its dependencies, and also the contiguous petty States of Cachar and Jyntia.

With regard to Munnipoor it is stipulated, that should Ghumbheer Sing desire to return to that country, he shall be recognized by the King of Ava as Rajah thereof.” With this farcical one-paragraph agreement between two imperialist forces, one under duress, the British surreptitiously took over Assam and the Northeast region step by step.

It was only after the acquisition of the Diwani of Bengal in 1765 that the East India Company came in direct contact with the medieval kingdoms of Assam, Manipur, Jaintia, and Cachar. This geographically difficult, sparsely populated region was not attractive from a business point of view for the Company until tea was discovered, and then crude oil in Upper Assam.

The British therefore left this Northeast region undisturbed until the Burmese invasions (1817 to 1824) of Assam and Manipur, which alerted them when the Burmese also threatened Bengal.

In November 1823, David Scott, the Magistrate of Rangpur in Bengal, was appointed Agent to the Governor-General on the Northeast Frontier of Bengal. The Ahom kingdom was weak, with chaos and lawlessness starting with the Moamoria rebellions and civil wars since the 1770s, followed by the Burmese invasions.

The East India Company came under the guise of saviors to drive out the Burmese. The real purpose was to annex and “turn Assam into an agricultural estate of tea-drinking Britons and to transform local traditional institutions in such a manner as to suit the colonial pattern of economy” (Planter Raj to Swaraj by Amalendu Guha).

The British proclaimed in a manifesto written in Bengali: "We have not come to quench our thirst for the conquest of your kingdom but to destroy our enemies, interested as we are to protect ourselves." In a despatch to the East India Company’s Court of Directors dated 20th July 1823, David Scott wrote about the Burmese: “Their expulsion would be a matter of no difficulty, although the unhealthiness of the country would make its permanent occupation by us a matter of regret in some respects.” Armed with flintlock rifles fitted with bayonets, the “India Pattern Musket” of 0.75-calibre with a 39-inch barrel, the well-trained British mercenary army could easily fight and dominate its enemies.

A formal declaration of war against the Burmese was proclaimed on 5th March 1824. In anticipation of the impending war, 3,000 British soldiers with various cannons and a gunboat flotilla gathered at Hadira Chowki, Goalpara, the frontier of the Ahom kingdom. The army marched ahead for fifteen days through jungles and trackless swamps and reached Gauhati on 28th March 1824.

The Burmese put up strong stockades in Gauhati but lacked manpower to face the EIC army. Their numbers were reduced by desertions, withdrawal of troops for service in Burma, and operations in Cachar. Instead of engaging, the Burmese army therefore withdrew from Gauhati to Mara Mukh in Upper Assam.

During their retreat, they massacred many Assamese villages. The British army stopped for some time in Gauhati to restock supplies and reconnoiter. David Scott, who accompanied the forces for operations in Cachar, crossed over the Jaintia hills with three companies of the 23rd Native Infantry. He entered Nowgong, leaving his escort there to secure the town, and marched westward to Gauhati.

This encouraged the Burmese, and around the end of April 1824, they advanced up to Koliabar. A force was sent from Gauhati to eject them. The Burmese constructed a stockade at Hatbar, but on the approach of the British troops, retreated back to Rangaligarh without waiting to be attacked.

A party came back to reoccupy the Hatbar stockade but was put to flight with considerable loss of men. The Burmese made a second attack, but the defenders were alert and routed their assailants, killing a large number. The Burmese then abandoned Rangaligarh and fell back once more on Mara Mukh.

Colonel Richards, the British commander, had established his headquarters at Koliabar, but when rain arrived, with difficulty in procuring supplies, he was compelled to return to Gauhati. The Burmese, seeing this opening, returned and reoccupied not only Koliabar, but also Raha and Nowgong. In revenge, they pillaged all the surrounding Assamese villages and committed atrocities on the inhabitants.

When the monsoon was over, arrangements were made for a fresh advance of the British troops. The only practicable means of transport was by boats towed laboriously upstream against the strong current of the river, and the rate of progress was very slow. Two divisions were dispatched around the end of October 1824, one by way of the Kollang and the other up the main stream of the Brahmaputra.

The former division, led by intelligence officer Lieutenant Neufville, surprised several Burmese detachments at Raha and elsewhere and only just failed to capture the Burmese Governor at Nowgong. With Koliabar secure, the troops moved forward and cleared Mara Mukh in early January 1825. Soon the nearby Burmese stockades were taken over.

The Burmese army retreated and concentrated at Jorhat. Around this time, there was dissension in the Burmese top ranks. The Burha Raja, the Burmese Governor, was assassinated by another leader, Shan Phukan. They set their stockade in Jorhat on fire and fell back upon the Ahom capital at Rangpur.

The advance of the British troops was hampered by heavy rain, but they reached Jorhat on 17th January 1825 and Gaurisagar eight days later. The Commissariat flotilla with its escort of gunboats could not move upstream of Dikhow, halting at its mouth, and from this point all supplies had to be transported by road.

On the morning of 27th January, the Burmese attacked the advance post holding the Namdang Silsaku, the stone bridge over Namdang river. British troop reinforcements moved immediately. The forward post soldiers feigned retreat from the stone bridge, encouraging the Burmese to rush forward and fall to a volley of shots from the British troops waiting in ambush. The Burmese were attacked with more rifle shots and a bayonet charge and were put to flight with heavy loss.

On 29th January 1825, Colonel Richards resumed his troops’ march to Rangpur. Supported by the right wing of the 57th Regiment under Captain Martin and the 46th Regiment, the Burmese stockade and blockades on the road were brought down by heavy cannon fire. The tank on the right was also occupied, and two temples, one on the right and the other on the left, were taken into possession, by which the south side of the fort was secured and the enemy was driven from all locations.

Shan Phukan and about seven hundred of the garrison surrendered. The rest, about nine thousand of both sexes and all ages, including two thousand fighting men, withdrew to the frontiers, many dropping off during the retreat and settling in Assam. The surrender of Rangpur and the ejection of the Burmese ended the war in the Brahmaputra valley.

Meanwhile, the operation of the British army in Burma was successful. The King of Ava was at last reluctantly compelled to accept the terms of peace offered to him. By the Yandabo Treaty signed on 24th February 1826, among many articles, including payment of Rupees 1 crore in installments for withdrawal of the British army, first retiring to Rangoon.

The Treaty articles, among other terms, required the Burmese to abstain from all interference in the affairs of Assam and its dependencies, and also the contiguous petty states of Cachar and Jaintia.

With this treaty in hand, the British took control of the whole of Assam. When the British first entered the Brahmaputra valley, they declared that they had not entered Assam with a thirst for conquest but to expel the invaders. However, with the expulsion of the Burmese, the British ignored the pledge on the plea that the Ahoms did not assist them in fighting against the Burmese and decided to settle Assam affairs in their own way.

They divided the valley into three parts: Lower Assam, comprising Kamrup, Nowgong, and part of Darrang; Upper Assam, extending from Biswanath to Buridihing, and the Matak country.

As far as Lower Assam was concerned, they annexed it to the British dominion and put it in charge of a Commissioner. David Scott was the first Commissioner. The Upper Assam part of the Ahom kingdom, after prolonged discussions and interviews, and in pursuance of a suggestion given by David Scott, was given to an Ahom prince, Purandar Singha, in 1833 with certain conditions.

The most important being payment of Rupees 50,000/- as annual tribute to the British. On the plea that Purandar Singha could not govern the country well and had not paid the annual tribute regularly, Upper Assam was annexed to the British in 1838.