ABSTRACT
The concerted resistance of the Tengima group of the Angami Nagas and the limited interest of the British in the Naga hills brought about a change in British policy by 1851. Pivotal in this decision to call back the imperial personnel from the Naga hills was the then Governor General Dalhousie, who was inclined to entertain an aggressive forward policy, as can be seen, for instance, in his handling of the neighbouring Burma case unfolding at the same time.1 This chapter explains the Naga hills’ place in the British empire during the time of ‘high imperialism’, documents and delineates the partial conquest of the Naga hills and the type of regime the British set up there, and their eventual retreat.
