Tuensang district, on the India-Myanmar border, and its four major tribes

Background

Tuensang is located in the eastern part of Nagaland, bounded by Mon and Longleng Districts in the north and north east, Mokokchung in the northwest, Zunheboto in the southwest, Kiphire in the south, and Myanmar in the east. The whole area of the district is 1,728 sq.km. In the early seventies, at the instance of the Geographical Survey of India in collaboration with the Myanmar Government, 9(nine) RCC pillars touching Tuensang were erected all along the International Border demarcating India and Myanmar. Tuensang town has an average elevation of 1371 metres and is 269 Kms from Kohima via Mokokchung district. It is connected by National Highway 202. The district is inhabited by four major tribes, the Changs, the Yimchungers, the Khiamniungans and the Sangtams, and a sub-tribe, Tikhirs, under the nomenclature of Yimchunger. The most common practice of agriculture is Jhum-Shifting cultivation, and the annual rainfall is 2000mm.