Mizo people

The Mizo people (historically called the Lushais) are a Tibeto-Burman ethnic group primarily from the Indian state of Mizoram. Further communities beyond Mizoram live in neighboring northeast Indian states like Manipur, Assam, Meghalaya, and Tripura, with minority populations also found in Myanmar and North America, including the United States and Canada. Mizoram is the most literate state in India, and the first to become fully literate.

Oral history of the Mizos states Chhînlung as the original homeland of the people. The nature of Chhînlung as a location or an eponym is inconclusive in answering what or where it is. This origin story is shared among various other Zohnahtlâk tribes.

The Chin people of Myanmar and the Kuki people of India and Bangladesh are the kindred tribes of Mizos and many of the Mizo migrants in Myanmar have accepted the Chin identity. The Chin, Kuki, Mizo, and southern Naga peoples are collectively known as Zo people (Zohnahthlâk; lit. 'descendants of Zo') which all speak the Mizo language.

The Mizo language, also known as Duhlián ṭawng, is part of the Tibeto-Burman language family. Regionally the language is classed within the Zohnathlâk languages among the Zo people.

Before British rule in the Lushai Hills, the Mizo people organized themselves under a system of Mizo chieftainship. A notable chiefdom was the Confederacy of Selesih. Other notable chiefdoms were Tualte under Vanhnuailiana and Aizawl under Lalsavunga. Following British annexation of the Lushai Hills, the Mizos adopted Christianity via the influence of missionaries. In the decolonisation period, the Mizo people asserted political representation with the founding of the Mizo Union.

The Lushai Hills was constituted as an autonomous district of Assam before being renamed to the Mizo district. Following the mautam famine of 1959, the Mizo National Front declared independence in the Mizo National Front uprising in 1966. The Indian government responded with the Bombing of Aizawl and Operation Accomplishment ,an extensive village regrouping policy, to curb the insurgency. The unrest continued until 1986, when Mizoram was inaugurated as a state.