The Adivasi community of Assam, locally known as
Tea tribe are the descendants of tribal people who were brought by the British colonial planters as indentured labourers from the
Chhota Nagpur Plateau region into
Assam during 1860-90s in multiple phases for the purpose of being employed in the tea gardens industry as labourers. They are found mainly in the districts of
Kokrajhar,
Udalguri,
Sonitpur,
Nagaon,
Golaghat,
Jorhat,
Sivasagar,
Dibrugarh,
Tinsukia and almost all the districts of Assam in
India. The total population of the community is estimated to be around 5.5-6.0 million or about 20 percent of total population of Assam.
Santhali speakers are also found in parts of
Kokrajhar,
Baksa and
Bongaigaon districts. They generally use Nagpuri or
Sadri as lingua franca among themselves along with use of other tribal languages like
Santhali ,
Kurukh and
Mundari . They have their own dance form,
Jhumur, which is quite popular in Assam. Within the community,
Munda tribe is the largest in terms of numbers followed by
Santhals,
Kurukh (
Oraon),
Gonds,
Kharia,
Bhumij and
Saora.