Barpeta Subdivision,1908
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts.Many units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Barpeta Subdivision,1908
Subdivision of Kamrup District, Eastern Bengal and Assam, lying between 26° 5' and 26° 49 N. and 90° 39' and 91° 17 E., on the north bank of the Brahmaputra, wath an area of 1,274 square miles. In 1901 the population was 115,935, compared with 135,705 in 1891. It contains one town, Barpeta (population, 8,747), the head-quarters, and 600 villages. The land revenue and local rates amounted in 1903-4 to Rs. 2,54,000. The subdivision is sparsely peopled, and there are only 91 persons per square mile, as compared with 153 in the District as a whole. The decrease of nearly 15 per cent, in the last intercensal period was due to exceptional un- healthiness and to the damage done by the earthquake of 1897. The annual rainfall averages 96 inches at Barpeta, but nearer the Hima- layas it is considerably higher. The subdivision has always been liable to injury from flood, and since 1897 this liability has been seriously increased. Mustard was at one time extensively grown on the marshes that fringe the bank of the Brahmaputra, but the land now frequently remains too cold and wet to admit of a crop being raised. In the northern mauzas, which are almost exclusively inhabited by Kacharis, rich crops of rice are raised on fields irrigated from the hill streams. Elsewhere bao, a long-stemmed variety of winter rice, is the staple crop.
