Assam
| Country |  India |
|---|---|
| Established | 15 August 1947 |
| Capital | Dispur |
| Largest city | Guwahati |
| Districts | 27 |
| Government | |
| • Governor | J B Patnaik |
| • Chief Minister | Tarun Gogoi (INC) |
| • Legislature | Unicameral (126 seats) |
| • Parliamentary constituency | 14 |
| • High Court | Gauhati High Court |
| Area | |
| • Total | 78,550 km2 (30,328.3 sq mi) |
| Area rank | 15th |
| Population (2011) | |
| • Total | 31,169,272 |
| • Rank | 14th |
| • Density | 396.8/km2 (1,027.7/sq mi) |
| Time zone | IST (UTC+05:30) |
| ISO 3166 code | IN-AS |
| HDI |  0.534 (medium) |
| HDI rank | 22nd (2005) |
| Literacy | 76.3% (9th) |
| Official languages | Assamese; Bodo |
Assam, a northeastern state of India, is a land of exquisite flowers and rare wild animals. Renowned for its tea, wildlife and silk, Assam is a state with rich biodiversity. With its capital at Dispur, a suburb of the city Guwahati, it encompasses the Brahmaputra, the Barak river valleys, the Karbi Anglong, and the North Cachar Hills. Assam is bordered by the rest of the Seven Sister States: Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and Meghalaya. It also shares International borders with Bhutan and Bangladesh. The native and official languages of the state are Assamese and Bodo
Assam is divided into 27 administrative districts. More than half of these districts were carved out during 80s and 90s from original 1. Lakhimpur, 2. Jorhat, 3. Karbi Anglong, 4. Darrang, 5. Nagaon, 6. Kamrup, 7. Goalpara, 8. North Cachar and 9. Cachar districts, delineated by the British. Earlier, during 70s, Dibrugarh was separated out from original Lakhimpur district.
These districts are further sub-divided into 49 “Sub-divisions” or Mohkuma. Every district is administered from a district head quarter with the office of the District Collector, District Magistrate, Office of the District Panchayat and usually with adistrict court
Assamese and Bodo are the major indigenous and official languages while Bengali holds official status in the three districts in theBarak Valley and is the second most widely spoken language of the state (27%).
Traditionally Assamese was the language of the commons (of mixed origin – Austroasiatic, Tibeto-Burman, Prakrit) in the ancient Kamarupa and in the medieval kingdoms of Kamatapur, Kachari, Sutiya kingdom, Borahi, Ahom and Koch. Traces of the language is found in many poems by Luipa, Sarahapa, etc. in Charyapada (c.7th–8th AD). Modern dialects Kamrupi, Goalpariya, etc. are the remnant of this language. Moreover, Assamese in its traditional form was used by the ethno-cultural groups in the region as lingua-franca, which spread during the stronger kingdoms and was required for needed economic integration. Localised forms of the language still exist in Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh. The form used in the upper Assam was enriched by the advent of Tai-Shans in the 13th century..