ABSTRACT
The Naga in North-East India, living in mountainous terrain and occasionally raiding settlements and British tea plantations in the lowlands of Manipur and Cachar, were a thorn in the side of British India. The British first attempted to stop these raids with punitive expeditions using Indian and British troops in the 1830s and 1840s. As these expeditions had little effect and were rather costly, the administration then switched to a hands-off policy, and only attempted to control the mountain passes leading into the lowlands. As raids continued unabated, district officers were sent into the hills with military and police troops to establish permanent posts and patrol the area from the mid-1860s onwards. Weaker Naga groups gladly accepted the protection offered by the British against their enemies and the resistance of the stronger groups was finally suppressed in pitched battles by the British Indian Army, resulting in the cessation of headhunting and tribal warfare.
