Karimganj

Karimganj (now officially Sribhumi district in Assam since November 2024) lies in the Barak Valley and has long been a key borderland between the Surma–Kushiyara river system and the hills around it.

The name “Karimganj” is commonly traced to Muhammad Karim Chowdhury, a local landholder who established a bazar (market) near the confluence of the Natikhal and Kushiyara rivers—“ganj” meaning market-town.

Under British rule, the area was administered as part of Sylhet, and the Karimganj subdivision was created in 1878 with Karimganj town as its headquarters. In the region’s social history, the Chargola valley tea-belt became notable for the Chargola exodus, described as one of India’s earliest organised labour movements.

A major turning point came during Partition (1947): following the Sylhet referendum, most of Sylhet joined East Pakistan, but the eastern part of the Karimganj subdivision remained with India and later became today’s district.