Area : 2,287 sq km
Total Population : 28,23,768 (Undivided Nagaon)
Male : 14,39,112
Female : 13,84,656
Sex Ratio : 962 female per 1000 male
Density : 711 persons per sq km
Literacy Rate : 72.37%
Male : 56.51%
Female : 68.07% District HQ : Nagaon Sub-Division : Two-Sub-Division : HQ Nagaon Nagaon Kaliabor Kaliabor
Boundaries : Brahmaputra river on the north; Golaghat and Karbi Anglong on the east; Hojai District and Karbi Anglong on the south; and Morigaon and Karbi Anglong on the west. Beel : Mer, Morikolong, Kachadhara, Uri, Bhogdoba, Roumari, Sondoba.
Water-fall : Chapanola.
Important Places : Nagaon, Silghat, Bordowa. Kampur.
The Central Assam district of Nagaon (spelled by the British as Nowgong) is one of the largest districts of Assam. It sprawls across almost four thousand square kilometres of fertile alluvial plains and thickly forested hills. Lakes and marshes dotthe landscape of Nagaon.
The mighty river Brahmaputra flows along the northern periphery of the district. Other major tributaries meandering through the district such as Kollong, Kopili and Jamuna drain into the Brahmaputra.
The history of the district as an administrative unit can be firmly traced only from the time of the British annexation. Nagaon passed into British hands in 1826 and was declared a district in 1833. The headquarters of the district was established in Nagaon in 1839. At one time, a large chunk of the Naga Hills, the Mikir Hills and North Cachar Hills were part of the district. With the passage of time, they were sliced away to form separate tribal districts with autono-mous hill councils.
Located in Central Assam, the eastern, western and southern segments of the district were once ruled by differ-ent smalltime feudal kings or their agents. The residual ef-fects of the rule of the Bor Bhuyans were imaginatively utilised and reorganised by Momai Tamuli Bor Baruah, an intrepid officer of the Ahom King Pratap Singha in the first half of the 17th century. This area, until then, was more of strategic than administrative concern. The newly organised village system was called ‘Nagaon’. ‘Na’ means new. Srimanta Sankaradeva, the great saint of the Bhakti movement era was born at Bordowa, at a distance of 15 km from the district headquar-ters town His life and work had been social exemplifiers and anyone can feel the long shadow of his influence even in the remot-est part of the district.
The thickly populated parts of the district were the cho-sen targets of violence during the Burmese rule. There was no leadership to organised resistance against the Burmese. The people heaved a sigh of relief when the British came down heavily on the Burmese and compelled them to with-draw from Assam. Following the Treaty of Yandabo in 1826. this central area of the province passed off silently into the hands of the British. It took a couple of years before the Brit-ish finally settled on the present site on the bank of the Kollong river. The district headquarters was called Nagaon and gradu-ally it emerged into a town. It became a municipality in 1893. It is basically a rural conglomerate of agrarian population.
Conscious of its strategic location, the administration of the district was always entrusted to officers of extraordinary merit. A local peasant uprising at Phulaguri in 1861 against government’s taxation policy was enough of an indication that the peasantry was not altogether a docile lot. The peasantry was also an active participant in the various stages of the national struggle for freedom. The national leaders, M K Gandhi, Rajendra Prasad and Pandit Nehru were impressed by their spirit and enthusiasm.
The entire credit of introduction of modern education in the district goes to the Christian Missionaries. Of them, the name of Miles Bronson. the American missionary, shines as brilliantly as ever. The apostle of the new age Anandaram Dhekial Phukan spent the best part of his life at Nagaon. His spiritual successor Gunabhiram Barua also worked in Nagaon for about two decades.
Climate of the district is wet and humid. The absence of a dry, hot summer and plentiful rainfall are its main characteristics Winter stretches from December to February. It is followed by the pre-monsoon season of thunderstorms. The south-west monsoon lasts from June to October. January is the coldest month with temperature varying from 10 degree celsius to 24 degree celsius. April and May are the warmest months with the mercury soaring to 35 degree celsius at times. The district headquarter town Nagaon is an old and famous town of Assam. Laying at a distance of 123 km by read from Guwahati, Nagaon town constitutes a vital corridor linking the upper Assam districts of Golaghat, Jorhat, Sivasagar, Dibrugarh, Tinsukia and the north Assam districts of Sonitpur and Lakhimpur.
The famous Kaziranga National Park stretches from the north-east part of the district and spills into bordering Golaghat. This town is the centre of education and culture as well as trade and commerce of the district. The town is advanced from economic and cultural point of view. Nagaon has contributed a great deal towards the field of culture, art, literature and sports of the State. Allpukhuri, near Bordowa, at a distance of about 14 km from Nagaon, is the birth place of Srimanta Sankardeva and is naturally held in very high veneration by the people of Assam. Bordowa Satra is a famous Vaishnavite temple of Assam. There is a Kirtan Ghar (prayer house) here A piece of stone lie near the Kirtan Ghar. The piece of stone is held extremely valuable as it is believed that the stone bears the mark of Srimanta Sankardeva’s footprint. This stone is known as Pada si/a (foot stone) Fakua (Holi) festival and the birth and death anniversaries of the Vaishnava Saints are observed there with great grandeur.
Chapanala, about 22 km away from Nagaon town is a place that can boast of a waterfall and it attracts tourists and picnickers. Chapanala has flown from Karbi Anglong Hills. there are three rostrum like pits of this fall. The top most pit is 228 metres high from the ground level. There is a legend that Champawati. the daughter of King Hangsaddhvaj used to bath in the lowest pit on the Ph lunar day of the month of Magha. From her name the fall got the name Champawati. It is believed that if some one takes a bath here on the Ph lunar day of Magha, he/she earns holly blessings and gets cured of diseases.
Kampur, situated at the riverside of Kopili is an important place of Nagaon district. There is a Sugar Mill and a railway station in Kampur.
Kaliyabor, the sub-divisional town is a place of historic importance. A legend says that Sri Krishna rested under a tree (Bor gos) in this place on the way back to his place when he took Rukmini with him by defeating her brother. As Kaliya Krishna took rest in this place, it got the name Kaliyabor According to another legend Kachari King Kanaibor had three sons Kaliyabor, Mokorabor and Hatbor. Once Lord Shiva blessed Kaliyabor having satisfied by his prayer and dedication that his name will be the name of the Kingdom and so He blessed him to become a very big tree. The place was named after the name of that big tree Many temples, shrines and forts counstructed by the Ahom Kings are scattered around Kaliyabor. Among them the Kamakhya temple of Silghat, the Durga temple of Hatimura are worthy of mention. It is said that Mulagabharu died in here during the invasion of Turbok. Gadapani also hid himself here. The famous betel nut orchard of Momai Tamuli Barbarua was also believed to be near this place.
Silghat, situated at a distance of 28 km from Nagaon is an important river port. Besides being the place of the Assam Cooperative Jute Mill, Silghat also has several temples of Lord Shiva and Goddess Durga. A big Asokastami Mela around a Durga temple atop Samantagiri hillock draws big crowds from everywhere. Kaliya Bhomora Bridge over the Brahmaputra has connected Si!ghat with Tezpur on the north bank. Raha, Phulaguri, Chaparmukh are some other important places of Nagaon district.
On 15 August, 2015 Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi announced the formation of a new districtnamed Hojai. This district is curved out of Nagaon district. Due to creation of the new district, the area, population etc. of Nagaon district is affected.