Hakha is located in the northeast of Chin State, with a total area of about 12.50 square miles (32.4 km2). The city of Hakha is located on a plateau at more than 1,867 metres (6,125 ft) above sea level. Although relatively small in area, it is the largest city of Chin State, as well as its capital city. It is estimated that Hakha has enough land and full capacity to extend to as ten times its current township area.[citation needed]
History
Hakha was founded in around 1400 CE by the Lai ethnic group. The area was ruled by local chiefs for many generations and consisted of more than 600 houses when British troops arrived in 1889.
The British occupied Hakha beginning on 19 January 1890, as part of their operation to "subdue the wild tribes" in the Arakan Hills Division, as the area was then called. The British government later established a sub-divisional office and Hakha became incorporated as a town a few years later.
The first American Baptist missionary couple, Arthur Carson (1860-1908) and his wife Laura (1858-1942), arrived in Hakha in 1899 and opened a mission station. Other missionaries later joined them and did extensive mission work throughout the Chin Hills, converting most of northern Chin State to Christianity within a century.[4]
During the Second World War, Hakha was captured by Japanese troops on 11 November 1943; it was later recaptured by British troops.
When Burma gained independence from British control in 1948, Hakha became an important city as the center of one of the subdivisions in the Chin Special Division, of which Falam was the capital at that time. The Chin Special Division was abolished and reformed as Chin State in 1974, at which time Hakha became its capital. That brought an influx of government workers, and housing development and extension of the city. Hakha eventually became the largest city in the Chin State with about 20,000 people.[5] Hakha became part of the newly formed Hakha District on 1 June 2012.
Geography and climate
The city is 6,120 feet (1,870 m) above sea level and lies at the foot of Rung Tlang (Mt. Rung), which is about 7,543 feet (2,299 m) high, one of the most famous mountain peaks in Chin State.
Hakha features a subtropical highland climate (Cwb) under the Köppen climate classification. It experiences three seasons: cool, warm, and rainy. Because of the high altitude, the temperatures tend to be much cooler than in the plains. Yearly rainfall averages about 72 inches or 1,800 millimetres.
During the cool season, the days are pleasant to warm but the mornings are quite cold. Sometimes, the temperature drops to as low as −2 °C or 28.4 °F. It is also windy and foggy in this season. In January 2009, a cold wave caused temperatures to drop to 0 °C or 32 °F.[6]
Myanmar
Chin
