Aizawl

Aizawl is the capital of Mizoram, set on steep ridges above deep valleys, and its story is closely linked with the political rise of the Mizo Hills. The name “Aizawl” is commonly explained as “a field of wild cardamom,” reflecting the area’s earlier landscape and village settlements of Mizo chiefs in the early 1800s. Modern Aizawl grew after the British established a military outpost, Fort Aijal, in the spring of 1890, turning the deserted site into a permanent station and then an administrative headquarters for the Lushai Hills. After 1947, the town became part of Assam’s Mizo Hills, where demands for greater autonomy steadily intensified.

A dramatic moment came in March 1966, when the Mizo National Front launched armed attacks on government targets; Aizawl was later hit during the operations remembered as the Bombing of Aizawl, a rare instance of air power used inside independent India. Mizoram became a Union Territory in 1972 with Aizawl as its capital, and after the 1986 Peace Accord, it achieved statehood in 1987, cementing Aizawl’s role as the political, cultural, and administrative heart of Mizoram.