East Siang district


East Siang is an administrative district in the state of Arunachal Pradesh in India.

History

In 1989 territory was transferred from West Siang district to East Siang. A decade later, in 1999, the district was bifurcated to make Upper Siang district. East Siang district has a long ancient history related with the Chutiya Kingdom. It was probably under Chutiya chieftain rule from a long time, and came under Birpal's rule in the 12th century.

Geography

The district headquarters are located at Pasighat. East Siang district occupies an area of, comparatively equivalent to Indonesia's Nias Island.

Divisions

There are 5 Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly constituencies located in this district: Panging, Nari-Koyu, Pasighat West, Pasighat East, and Mebo. All of these are part of Arunachal East Lok Sabha constituency.

Demographics

According to the 2011 census East Siang district has a population of 99,214, roughly equal to the nation of Kiribati. This gives it a ranking of 615th in India. The district has a population density of . Its population growth rate over the decade 2001–2011 was 13.3%. East Siang has a sex ratio of 962 females for every 1000 males, and a literacy rate of 73.54%.

Religion

Various tribal groups of the Adi people live in various parts of the district. The local people traditionally follow Donyi-Polo, although a sizeable minority have converted to Christianity.

Languages

Predominant Language spoken in pasighat is Adi language of the Sino-Tibetan tongue with approximately 140 000 speakers, written in Latin scripts; and Galo, an endangered language with 30 000 speakers, also in the Sino-Tibetan language family.

Flora and fauna

In 1978 East Siang district became home to the D’Ering Memorial Wildlife Sanctuary, which has an area of.