Darrang district


Darrang is an administrative district in the state of Assam in India. The district headquarters are located at Mangaldoi. The district occupies an area of 1585 km2.

History

In the 16th century, Darrang was subject to the Koch king Kamata kingdom, Nara Narayan, and on the division of his dominions among his heirs, Darrang became a part of Koch Hajo. Early in the 17th century the raja Bali Narayan invoked the aid of the Ahoms of Upper Assam against the Mughal invaders; after his defeat and death in 1637 the Ahoms dominated the whole district. About 1785 the Darrang rajas took advantage of the decay of the Ahom kingdom to try and re-establish their independence, but they were defeated by a British expedition in 1792, and in 1826 Darrang, with the rest of Assam, passed under British control.
In 1984 Sonitpur district was formed from part of Darrang. This was repeated on 14 June 2004 with the creation of Udalguri district.

Geography

Darrang district occupies an area of.

National [protected area]

There are four Assam Legislative Assembly constituencies in this district: Kalaigaon, Sipajhar, Mangaldoi, and Dalgaon. Mangaldoi is designated for scheduled castes. All four are in the Mangaldoi Lok Sabha constituency.

Demographics

According to the 2011 census Darrang district has a population of 928,500, roughly equal to the nation of Fiji or the US state of Delaware. This gives it a ranking of 463rd in India. The district has a population density of . Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 19.51%. Darrang has a sex ratio of 954 females for every 1000 males, and a literacy rate of 63.08%.
597,392 are Muslims, 327,322 are Hindus and 16,880 are Christians.

Language

In Darrang district, as per the 2011 census record, Assamese is spoken by 4,57,696 people of the district.

Flora and fauna

It is home to Orang National Park, which it shares with Sonitpur district. Orang was established in 1999 and has an area of.