People of Assam:

The people of Assam are called Assamese. Assamese are in fact the result of fusion of people from different racial stocks who migrated to Assam down the ages. The Assamese population can be divided into two broad groups; the non-tribal people who constitute the majority and the tribal, the major among them being the Boro-Kacharis, the Deori, the Misings, the Karbis, the Lalungs, the Rabhas etc. The Australoid were the first to come to the land; the Mongoloids, came here in a series of migrations from the north, north-east and south-east; and the Caucasoids who came from the west by the valley formed by the Ganges and the Brahmaputra.

Assam has a reputation for warm hospitality, people of Assam are homely, charming and openhearted.

An ideal meeting ground for diverse races, Assam gave shelter to streams of human waves carrying with them district cultures and trends of civilization.

Austro-Asiatics, Negritos, Dravidians, Alpins, Indo-mongoloids, Tibeto-Burmese and Aryans penetrated into Assam through different routes and contributed in their own way towards the unique fusion of a new community which came to be known in later history in the Assamese.

There has been racial intermixture among the population of Assam. The Mongoloid racial stock has large number of tribes. Their physical features are described as “ a short head, a broad nose, a flat and comparatively hairless face, a short but muscular figure and a yellow skin.” But there are numerous other races also. Traces of the Negroid are to be found among the Nagas. The Khasis who speak Austric language belong to the photo-australoids. The Kaibartas and the Bani as of Assam are said to be descendants of the Dravidians. They are distinguished by “a long head, large and dark eyes, a fairly strong beard, a black or nearly black colour and a very broad nose, depressed at the base, but not so as to make the face look flat”. Then there are the Aryans, with a long head, tall and well-built, having a fine,long photo-australoids. The Kaibartas and the Banias of Assam are said to be descendants of the Dravidians. They are distinguished by “a long head, large and dark eyes, a fairly strong beard, a black or nearly black colour and a very broad nose, depressed at the base, but not so as to make the face look flat”. Then there are the Aryans, with a long head, tall and well-built, having a fine,long and prominent nose and a fair complexion, who came to Assam from across Bihar and Bengal. All these peculiarities of physiognomy one will encounter in Assam.