Lusei people

Mizo

Ethnic Mizo school children in Hnahthial, 2015
Total population
c. 734,910
Regions with significant populations
Northeast India, Bangladesh, Burma
Languages
Mizo language Duhlian language (Duhlian)  · Mara (Lakher)  · Hmar · Laizo (Pawi)  ·  · Bawm  · Ngawn  · Thadou  · Molsom ·
Religion
Protestantism (Presbyterian majority, large Baptist minority; other minor sects) Chin  · Kuki  • Lai  • Hmar  · Shan  · Karen  · Kachin

Protestantism (Presbyterian majority, large Baptist minority; other minor sects)

The Mizo people (Mizo: Mizo hnam) are an ethnic group native to north-eastern India, western Burma (Myanmar) and eastern Bangladesh; this term covers several ethnic peoples who speak various Mizo languages. The Mizo are one of the hill tribes of South Asia. All the Mizo and their clans have, in their folk legends, unanimously claimed that there was Chhinlung or Sinlung (which means covered rock in the Mizo language) at the cradle of the Mizos. Thus, it was assumed that Mizo people lived as cave dwellers at some point, presumably in pre-historic times. However, this claim is difficult to substantiate given that the Mizo do not have traditional writing forms, but only oral accounts.

There were no trace of human existence in Mizoram before the advent of the Mizo, largely due to forest coverage so thick that sunlight could not reach the ground. Even today the percentage of forest coverage in Mizoram is the highest in India, at 88.93% in 2015 as reported by the Forest Survey of India. Since the Lusei clan was the first Mizo people to become known to outside groups, the larger ethnic group was initially called "Lushai" after them. The present Indian state of Mizoram (literally "Mizoland") was called the Lushai Hills or Lushai Country and was defined as an excluded area during the British Raj and a district of Assam in independent India. The people of the Lushai Hills demanded a distinct political territory when India achieved independence. Due to continued efforts by its people to gain autonomy, the national government approved Mizoram in 1972 as a Union Territory and in 1987 as a full-fledged state of India.

As the people organized, they chose to identify as Mizo, rather than by individual clan names such as Hmar, Paite, Lusei, Ralte, Mara, Pawi, etc. Their languages (of which the largest is the Duhlian dialect) belong to the Tibeto-Burman language family. The state has one of the highest literacy rates in India, at more than 91%.