68 SOCIAL SCIENTIST manders may be regarded as the pioneer Muslim settlers in Assam. The first invasion was glided by Ali Mcch whom Muhammad had converted to Islam.2 This was perhaps the earliest instance of proselytization which synchronized with their appearance on the border of Assam. Though Kamrup was free from serious Muslim invasion since then till the end of the fifteenth century, "occasional Muslim raids, particularly from the direction of Mymensing", continued.3 A colony of Muslim settlers was established round about Hajo in Kamrup after the unsuccessful invasion of Allauddin Hussain Shah in 1498. A mosque was erected there by one Ghya-suddin Aulia. This was perhaps the earliest recorded Muslim settlement in Assam.4 The history of the seventeenth century was the history of Ahom-Mughal conflicts.6 In the course of the conflict between Gooch Behar and the Mughals, Kamrup and Goalpara came under the control of the latter. This brought the Mughals in direct contact with the Ahom kings who ruled over central and eastern Assam across the Brahmaputra. They also consolidated their hold on the newly acquired territories by financial settlements.6 Muslim Expansion Mirjumla, who was appointed Governor of Bengal in 1690, had orders to (<. . . punish the lawless Zaminders of the province especially those of Assam and the Mughs (Arakan)", and he made an attempt to expand the Muslim power to Assam. His invasion in 1662 was the last serious and well organized effort of the Mughals to conquor Assam. King Jayadhwaj Singha had to surrender vast territories and "Assam west of the river Barnadi on the north bank of the Brahmaputra and west of the Kallang river on the south bank was annexed to the empire. Thus the Mughals were to get more than half of the province of Darrang . . . .557 It may not be wrong to surmise that a large number of Muslims settled permanently in Kamrup and Darrang by right of conquest. It was King Gadadhar Singha who wrested western Assam from the Mughaly in 1682 and restored its froniier along the river Manas.8 Since Mir Jumla's invasion, Goalpara formed part of the Muslim dominion till, with the rest of Bengal, it was ceded to the British in 1765. Nowgong had come into Muslim contact during the expedition of Ghyasuddin in 1227.9 But their