The Zo people is a term to denote the ethnolinguistically related speakers of the Kuki-Chin languages who primarily inhabit northeastern India, western Myanmar, and southeastern Bangladesh. The dispersal across international borders resulted from a British colonial policy that drew borders on political, rather than ethnic, grounds.

Names

Beginning in the 1990s, the generic name Chin have been rejected by some for "Zomi", a name used by a group speaking Northern Kuki languages. The speakers of the Northern Kuki languages are sometimes lumped together as the Zomi's. Some Zomi nationalists have stated that the use of the label Chin would mean subtle domination by Burmese groups. In 2023, during the Manipur violence the Kuki tribes of Manipur were referred to Kuki-Zo, Before it was specifically only Kuki in context of Manipur, Assam, Nagaland, and Tripura.

Geography

They are spread out in the contiguous regions of Northeast India, Northwest Burma (Myanmar), and the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh. In India, they are most prominent in Manipur, Nagaland, Assam and Mizoram. Some fifty Kuki/Zo peoples are recognised as scheduled tribes.