Meghalaya British Rule

The current state of Meghalaya primarily consisted of the Khasi kingdom, the Garo Kingdom and the Jaintia kingdom before the advent of the British East India Company. The nature of Meghalaya British rule in each of these crucial parts of Meghalaya is described below.

The British rule in Meghalaya made the Khasi kingdom an integral part of their empire in 1765 by considering the Sylhet markets as an integral part of the Company's economy. The raids in the Khasi localities around 1790 finally led the British to fortify the foothills and did not allow further trading of Khasi goods at the Sylhet markets.

The antagonism between the Khasis and the British came to an end with the construction of a road in 1837 in Nongkhaw. The hostility finally ended when the Khasi states and the British signed a few treaties in 1862. These treaties made the Khasis autonomous and free from paying taxes to the Company.

The British rule of Meghalaya won over all the semi-independent estates bordering the Garo Hills. But the British did not alter the internal administration of the estates. The zaminders were supposed to check the power of the Garos, as during the rule of the Mughals. Hence, the hostility between the Garos and the zaminders became even stronger. Finally, the British annexed the Garo Hills in the year 1873. The first Garo Hills Deputy Commissioner was Williamson. In the year 1979, Garo Hills was divided into the districts of West Garo Hills and East Garo Hills.

The British rule at Meghalaya abolished the Syiem office in the Jaintia kingdom but they did not modify or eradicate the posts of Doloi and village headman or Waheh Chnong. They put the whole Jaintia Hills and a few other Khasi Hills villages under the same administrative system. The British directly governed these regions.