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Zou people/Zo te | |
|---|---|
 A Zou girl in traditional costume | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Chin Hills (Burma) | ca. 111,000 estimated |
| Manipur (India) | 27,000 (2011 cenus) |
| Languages | |
| Zou language / Zoham/Zoupao | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| kuki people [[Tedim]]Paite.Ranglong, Thadou | |
The Zou people (also spelled Yo or Zo or Jo or Jou) are an ethnic group, that is an indigenous community living along the frontier of India and Burma, they are a sub-group of the Kuki people/Zo people. In India, they live with and are similar in language and habits to the Thadou people and Paite[1] and the Simte peoples. In Burma, the Zou are counted among the Chin people. They are a hill people, "Zou" may plainly means "Hills" denoting the Zous are "people of the hills" or "of the hills", and "Zou" has also a different meaning in Zou language that is "complete" or another word for it is "finish". But, the Zou people believed that they incepted the name 'Zou' from their forefather 'Zou' or 'Zo', believed to be the progenitor of the broad Chin-Kuki-Mizo people.[2]
In India, the Zou are officially recognized as one of the thirty-three indigenous peoples within the state of Manipur,[3] and are one of the Scheduled tribes.[4] According to the 2001 Census, the Zou/Zo population in Manipur is around 20,000, less than 3% of the population.[5] The community is concentrated in Churachandpur and Chandel districts of Manipur in North-East India.[6]
- ^ Bareh, Hamlet (2001). "Zou". Encyclopaedia of North-East India: Manipu. Mittal. pp. 260ff. ISBN 978-81-7099-790-0. Retrieved 22 November 2010.
- ^ Chinlunthang & Peter L (2017): Zou/Zo: A Preserver of Pu Zo Identity, in David V. Zou & S.T. Zou (eds),A History of the Zou People, UZO-India publication, pp.118-137
- ^ "Manipur List of Scheduled Tribes" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 February 2014.
- ^ "Alphabetical List of India's Scheduled Tribes". Archived from the original on 10 February 2009.
- ^ "Manipur. Data Highlights: The Scheduled Tribes" (PDF). Census of India 2001. Retrieved 21 November 2010.
- ^ Sen, Sipra (1992). Tribes and castes of Manipur: description and select bibliography. Mittal. p. 64. ISBN 978-81-7099-310-0.