For a major part of British Rule, the tribal areas of the North-East were part of the larger East Bengal and Assam administrative divisions. Post-independence, it was not until 1972 that Meghalaya gained statehood after a firm but largely peaceful agitation, the Hill State Movement. A major reason for the struggle was the imposition of Assamese as an official language on the tribal areas (1960), something which the fiercely autonomous indigenous communities were against as it eroded their linguistic and cultural distinctiveness. Captain Williamson A Sangma, who was one of the leaders of the Hill State Movement, was the first chief minister of Meghalaya.

The region that today constitutes Meghalaya can be termed as a microcosm of diversity – a place that has witnessed many layers of migration.
The Pnars, Khasis, and the Garos are communities of Paleo-Mongoloid descent and are believed to be one of the earliest settlers in the present-day North-East India. The Achiks or Garos are closely related to the Bodos of Assam and belong to the Tibeto-Burman family while the Khasis and Pnars come from Mon-Khmer family. Some of the more recent pre-colonial chronicles and mentions of the Pnars have been found in records made during the days of the Axom kingdom (present-day Assam).

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