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Fort White (Zomi: Thangmual) was a small military station built by the British Army under Field Marshal Sir George Stuart White, V.C., Commander-in-Chief of Upper Burma during their third expeditions in the annexation of the Chin Hills in 1889. Its location was on the eastern (leeward) side of the Letha Range midway between Kale and Tiddim towns in what is now the Tiddim Township of Chin State, Burma (Myanmar).
It was named after Field Marshal Sir George White, a British Army officer known for his campaigns in South Asia.
It was garrisoned and a post and telegraph office was established there on 13 January, 1889, to be linked with their rearward, Kalemyo of Sagaing Division, and other parts of the country down to Rangoon.
During the second World War, it was reduced to ashes by air-raids and shelling with heavy guns from the Allied Forces at mount Kennedy, yet it was not restored after the end of the war, since it had to be swerved off by the new Kale-Tiddim motor car road from the old one intersecting it. It has been deserted ever since the British colonial government had left.
There had been a heliograph station, too, on a horn of the Letha range near it to the west of the stockade at a distance of about four furlongs. It belonged to the Chin Hills Bn (BFF) of Falam to be communicated with other outstation such as, Kalemyo, No. 3 Stockade (Natang), Dimlo-Tiddim, Lungpi-Falam and Haka. Later on, it was occupied by a detachment of the Allied Force until just before the Japanese army stormed the fort of White and it was razed to the ground in the war.
The Fort White post and telegraph office was the transit office of the whole Chin Hills connected with Kale, Tiddim, Haka and Falam offices.
It has a temperate climate but the temperature usually drops below freezing point in the months from November to February every year.
Its natural vegetation is evergreen and the land is good for grazing mithuns and sheep that Major M.C. Moore, Commanding Officer of the Chin Hills Bn. Reared sheep, kept jersey bulls and stallions for mating with the indigenous females.
Notwithstanding its fame, there does not appear to be a photograph of Fort White still in existence.
This fort is an important historic spot in the Chin Hills. So it was painted by artist Daniel Son za Howe from his memory as exactly as he saw it in his boyhood when he frequented there for sightseeing and authenticated by
who in their living memory, had lived there for many years and they are still vividly familiar with all the scenic spots there and in the neighbourhood.
A graveyard which the Zomi called, "The White Cemetery" where the British pioneer soldiers killed in action against the Chins (Zomi) in their occupation of the Siyin valley were buried is situated in the north about a mile away from it. The British ranking officers interred there include Major Gordon Cunning and Major Stevens.
Chin State is a state in western Myanmar. The 36,019-square-kilometre (13,907 sq mi) Chin State is bordered by Sagaing Division and Magway Division to the east, Rakhine State to the south, Bangladesh to the south-west, and the Indian states of Mizoram to the west and Manipur to the north. The population of Chin state is about 478,801 in 2014 census. The capital of the state is Hakha. The state is a mountainous region with few transportation links. Chin State is sparsely populated and remains one of the least developed areas of the country. Chin State has the highest poverty rate of 73% as per the released figures from the first official survey. The official radio broadcasting dialect of Chin is Falam. There are 53 different subtribes and languages in Chin State. There are nine townships in Chin State: Hakha, Thantlang, Falam, Tedim, Tonzang, Matupi, Mindat, Kanpetlet and Paletwa townships. In 1896, Mindat and Kanpetlet were placed under Pakokku Hill Tracts District of British Burma later emerged into Chin hills. Only Paletwa Township became a part of Arakan Hill Tracts District of British Burma.
The Chin people are a Southeast Asian Zo people native to Chin State and its neighbouring states of Myanmar. The Chin are one of the founding groups of the Union of Burma. The Chin speak a variety of related languages, share elements of cultures and traditions. According to the British state media BBC News, "The Chin people... are one of the most persecuted minority groups in Burma." These people predominantly live in the Chin State, Bago Division, Ayeyarwady Division, Magwe Division, Rakhine State and Sagaing Region of Myanmar, but are also spread throughout Burma, Bangladesh and India. In the 2014 Burmese ethnic census, the Chin ethnicity was again dismissed by the people of the Chin State.
Hakha is the capital of Chin State in Myanmar.
Tedim (Burmese: တီးတိန်မြို့; MLCTS: ti: tin mrui., pronounced [títeɪ̀ɰ̃ mjo̰], (Zo: Tedim Khawpi, pronounced ; is a town in and the administrative seat of Tedim Township, Chin State, in the north-western part of Burma. It is the second largest town in Chin State. The town's four major boroughs are: Sakollam, Myoma, Lawibual and Leilum. The population is primarily Zomi.
The Zou people are an indigenous community living along the frontier of India and Burma, they are a sub-group of the Zo people (Mizo-Kuki-Chin). In India, they live with and are similar in language and habits to the Paite and the Simte peoples. In Burma, the Zou are counted among the Chin people.They are a hill people, "Zou" may plainly means "Hills" denoting the Zous are "people of the hills" or "of the hills", and "Zou" has also a different meaning in Zou language that is "complete" or another word for it is "finish". But, the Zou people believed that they incepted the name 'Zou' from their forefather 'Zou' or 'Zo', believed to be the progenitor of the broad Chin-Kuki-Mizo people. The Zous can be found in different parts of India and also of the world.
The Lushai Brigade was an improvised fighting formation of the British Indian Army which was formed during World War II. It participated in the Battle of Imphal and the Burma Campaign.
Vangte or Vangteh is a large village in southern Tedim Township, Falam District, Chin State, in Myanmar. Vangteh is also the name of the village tract where Vangte lies.
Guite is the progenitor clan of Zomi people He is also said to be the Older Brother of Thadou progenitor of the Thadou people. Mostly the Guite clan speak Paite language. Most of them are known as Paite/Zomi in India and as Tedim/Zomi in Myanmar (Burma). Depending on local pronunciation, the clan was also called differently such as Nguite, Vuite, and was also recorded even as Gwete, Gwite, Nwite. In accord with the claim of their solar origin, the Guite clan has been called nampi, meaning noble or major or even dominant people, of the region in local dialect in the past.
Falam District is a district of the Chin State in Myanmar. It consists of 3 townships and 445 villages. The major towns include: Chikha (Gyikhar), Tonzang (Htonzan), Tiddim, Fort White, and Falam.
Strictly speaking, Lai are the people belonging to the Lai Autonomous District Council of Mizoram. Outside this area they are scattered in Mizoram and many Lai people in Mizoram more than LADC area Lai people outside LADC area some Lai people prefer the name Pawi. Some state they are same as Lusei, North-East India, Hakha, Thantlang, and Falam of Chin State, Myanmar. Lai people can also be found outside their main dominant area. From a historical point of view, Lai is one of a dominant tribe of the so-called Chin-Kuki-Mizo, the community is scattered in different parts of the world, mainly concentrating in Mizoram, Chin Hills of Burma, South Bangladesh .
Chin Christian Institute of Theology, also known as CCIT, is situated in Falam, Chin State, Myanmar. It is a school run by Chin Baptist Convention, which belongs to Myanmar Baptist Convention.
The Lai languages or Pawih/Pawi languages are various Central Kuki-Chin-Mizo languages spoken by the Lai people or Pawi. They include Laiholh (Hakha-Chin) spoken around the Haka (Hakha/Halkha) capital of Chin State in Burma (Myanmar) and in the Lawngtlai district of Mizoram, India. In Bangladesh, a related language is spoken by the Bawm people. Likewise, the Lai languages includes Falam Lai (Laizo {Tlaisun-Hlawnceu}, Zahau {Tlauhmun-Khuangcheu} and Sim {Hauhulh-Thanhrang}, better known as Laitong. Other Lai languages are Mi-E, and the Zokhua dialect of Hakha Lai spoken in Zokhua village.
Kale Township is a township in Kale District in the Sagaing Division of Burma (Myanmar). The principal town is Kalay.
Khai Kam was a Chin leader who fought the British Indian Army when they invaded Chin Hills/Chin State in the late 19th century. Two years after the British had conquered the Chin Hills, he led a rebellion to overthrow the British colonial administration from Chin Hills. Unsuccessful in his rebellion, Khai Kam was sentenced to life imprisonment on the Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean. He was released in 1910 and returned to the Chin Hills.
The Khup Lian Inscription is a bi-lingual inscription located at the top of Lophei village in Chin State, Myanmar. It is located 5 miles from the well-known Fort White which in turn is located at halfway between the 48-mile Tedim-Kalaymyo motor car road. The inscription is a brief autobiography of him, including his genealogy, the capture of a semi-automatic rifle in a hand-to-hand combat with a British soldier during the first British invasion of Chin Hills in the year of 1888-1889, his involvement in the Sizang-Gungal rebellion of 1892-94 and also about his hunting trophies. The inscription is written in both Burmese and English.
Chin Baptist Convention, Myanmar was established in 1953 and located in Falam, Chin State, Myanmar. Today, the Chin Baptist Convention is the largest organization in Chin State consisting of 28 associations and is also the second largest member body of the Myanmar Baptist Convention after the Karen Baptist Convention.
The Zanniat tribe are people of western Myanmar (Burma) who are a sub-group of the Chin peoples. The Zanniat tribe has fifty-seven sub-groupings and clans. The group's existence was recorded in Burma's 1931 census after being absent in the Chin Hills gazette of 1896. In 1943, the Zanniat tribal groups of eastern Falam Township were recorded by Henry Stevenson. The Zanniat may also be known by similar sounding names such as Zahnyiet, Zanniet, Zanngiat and Zannaing.
Fort Siallum, is a defensive fort in Chin State, Myanmar, built during the British annexation of Chin Hills, Myanmar. The fort was built by the Chin (Sizang) in the year of 1889 and located near Voklak village in Tedim Township, Myanmar.
The Tashons people are ethnic tribes that live in the Falam Township, in the central part of Chin State, Myanmar. The Tashons were the most powerful tribes in the north of the Chin Hills prior to the British Empire's annexation of the region. Their influence extended over the borders of Manipur in the north, Hualngo and Lusai Hills in the west, the Phau River in the south and the Kalay-Kabaw Valley and Zanniat land in the east. They practiced a democratic system where the position of Chief was attained not by the virtue of birth but by vote of the people. The Tashons tribe and their villages were ruled by the Fahlam Council or Tashon Democratic Council, locally known as Nam Kap. The Tashons people have their own language, customs and culture.