The Colonial Impact on Chieftainship: The Case of the Zo People (1896–1954)

Chieftainship has been central to the socio-political life of the Zo ethnic tribes in the Indo-Burma borderlands since pre-colonial times. Even today, any discussion on land use and ownership amongst the Zo people cannot be complete without discussing chieftainship. However, while chieftainship forms an essential part in all colonial writings on the Zo tribes, there had been no independent study of the institution in colonial writings. This paper fills a part of this gap by analyzing the colonial impact on Zo chieftainship. The British rule have upended and transformed Zo chieftainship in many ways. Colonial rule had, while hollowing out the core attributes of Zo chieftainship, entrenched land ownership systems and economic power in favour of the chiefs. This ultimately hastened the dissolution of the institution itself in parts of the region, while further strengthening the hold of the chiefs on village lands in other places.