MOUNT MANIPUR

Oct. 21, 2021

The Union government rechristened Mount Harriet, a historical tourist spot in the Andaman and Nicobar islands, as ‘Mount Manipur’.

About:

  • The announcement was made during Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s visit to Port Blair, where he referred to the “significant contribution” the North-eastern state had made in resisting the British, especially during the historic 1891 Anglo-Manipur war.

  • After the Anglo-Manipur War of 1891, several Manipuris who had fought the British in the war, including Maharaja Kulachandra Dhwaja Singh, were exiled to the British penal colony in the Andaman Islands.

  • Since the cellular jail (Kalapani) was yet to be built, Kulachandra and the prisoners were kept on Mount Harriet, a hillock in what is now the Ferragunj tehsil of South Andaman district.

  • 23 men, including King Kulachandra and his brothers, were “transported for life” to the Andamans. The 23 are considered war heroes in Manipur. That is why Mount Harriet is an important symbol of the Anglo-Manipur War of 1891