Kameng, Siang, Subansiri, Lohit: the four rivers whose names the districts of Arunachal Pradesh carry

Background

Several districts of Arunachal Pradesh are named not after towns but after the rivers that run through them, which makes the district map a rough map of the drainage. The West Kameng district administration records that the district's name is derived from the Kameng River, a tributary of the Brahmaputra that flows through it, and that the district accounts for 8.86% of the total area of the state. The East Siang district administration records that the name of the district is derived from the Mighty River Siang and gives the district an area of 3603 sq.km. Siang itself was later made a district: the district administration describes it as the 21st district of Arunachal Pradesh, created by bifurcating West Siang and East Siang districts. On the eastern side, Lohit district takes the name of the Lohit river and has an area of 3735 sq/km, with Tezu as the headquarter; Anjaw District was bifurcated from Lohit District on 16th February 2004, with its headquarter at Hawai at an altitude of 1296m above sea level, and Namsai district was carved out of Lohit District in 2014 and became the 18th District of the state. Kamle District was officially created on 15th December 2017, carved out from the Lower Subansiri and Upper Subansiri districts, which carry the name of the Subansiri.