History

Longleng Town was established in 1951 with Shri Ranjan, Assistant Political Officer as the first Administrator, and later on gained the status of full-fledged Revenue District on 24 January 2004 headed by the Deputy Commissioner.Longleng District, the Home of the Phom Nagas, is the tenth district of Nagaland, formed as a result of bifurcation of Tuensang District. The origin of the name ‘Phom’ is obscure. There are many opinions regarding the origin of its name. Some say that the name is derived from a beautiful lady named ‘Bhumla’ which means ‘the lady of the clouds’. Legend says that she and her husband had many offsprings and their descendants were called ‘Phom’. Some say that the name was given by the English after the word ‘Bhum’ which means ‘cloud’. Other narrative says that the name ‘Phom’ came from the word ‘Bham’ which means rubber tree or Banyan tree given by the British when they visited the Phom area and found the Banyan tree in every main entrance of the Phom villages. When asked about the name of the tree, the natives replied that it was called ‘Bham’. Thus, the name ‘Phom’ came into existence.They gave this name because the ‘Phom’ area was mostly covered by clouds especially during winter. Hence, the attribution as “the land of clouds.”
Longleng is bounded by Mon District in the East, Mokokchung District in the west, Sivasagar District (Assam) in the North and Tuensang District in the south. Longleng District is headquartered at Longleng Town (about 1,100m above sea level). Longleng and Tamlu are the major towns of the district. Most of the inhabitants belong to the Phom tribes.