Zo (people) - Historical Background

Historical Background

The early history of the Zou people is lost in myths and legends; they claim an origin somewhere in the north, and some claim that they are originally the same as the Paite and were only separated at the end of the British Raj. Linguistic and racial evidence suggest the Indo-Chinese origin of the people. Linguists classified the Zou language as Tibeto-Burman, with only small differences between Zou and Paite.

Perhaps one of the earliest recorded references to Zou as a people is found in the travel account of an Italian missionary, Father Sangermano, who resided at Ava and Rangoon from 1783 to 1806. In his memoir, Sangermano recorded his observation of the Zomis at the beginning of the 19th century, writing: "To the east of the Chin mountains, ... is a petty nation called Jo . They are supposed to have been Chien … These Jò generally pass for necromancers and sorcerers, and are for this reason feared by the Burmese, who dare not ill-treat them for fear of their revenging themselves by some enchantment."

Since it was recognisable to the Italian observer that the Zou (Zo) ‘are supposed to have been Chien ’, the context suggests that Sangermano was referring to the same group of people later known as Chin-Kuki-Lushais, of whom the Zou tribe is a historical component today.

In South-east Asia, there had been dynasties (with no king), places and people that bear the label, Zou - with spelling variations. However, no definite connection can be established between such terms.

The American Baptist missionary J.H. Cope made an attempt to trace the pre-colonial history of the Chin Hills in a church journal, Tedim Thu Kizakna Lai. The journal (edited by Cope) provides a glimpse of the Zomis in Chin Hills before the arrival of British imperialism. Under the Manlun chiefs, the Zous had a bitter struggle with the Kamhau-Suktes over the control of the hill tracts between Manipur (India) and Chin hills (Burma). Inter-village raids were frequent but they never resulted in decisive victory. The fortification of Tedim village by Kamhau finally gave him the upper hand over his Zou rivals. British records about the Zou tribe became available towards the end of the 19th century.

Upper Burma (including the Chin hills) was officially annexed by the British at the end of the Third Anglo-Burmese War (1885–1887). On 28 September 1892, the Political Officer of Chin Hills submitted ‘a scheme in detail for the future administration of the Chin Hills’. The Yoe (Zo) - this being the colonial spelling for the Zou tribe - was enumerated as one of the five tribes inhabiting the Northern Chin Hills. The others were Nwite (Guite), Thado and Kamhow (Kamhau), and Siyin (Sihzang). The Zou tribe was placed under the jurisdiction of the Tedim post; but the new scheme of boundary demarcation proposed to ‘award’ majority of the Zou population to Manipur in India. British interest in revenue collection in the Chin Hills produced statistical information for Zou villages. Official statistics for the year 1893 showed that the Zou tribe consisted of nineteen villages and 630 households, inhabiting a tract lying between 60 and 90 miles north and north-west of Fort White. The tribe had the second largest number of villages in Northern Chin Hills, next only to the Thado tribe.