GOALPARA, a town and district of British India, in the Brahmaputra valley division of Assam. The town (pop. 6,415 overlooks the Brahmaputra. It was the frontier outpost of the Mohammedan power, and has long been a flourishing seat of river trade. The civil station is built on the summit of a small hill. The town has declined in importance since the district headquarters were removed to Dhubri in 1879.
The area is 3,985 square miles. Pop. (1931) 882,748. It is sit uated along the Brahmaputra, at the corner where the river takes its southerly course from Assam into Bengal. Along the banks of the river grow clumps of cane and reed ; farther back stretch fields of rice cultivation, broken only by the fruit trees surrounding the villages, and in the background rise the forest-clad hills overtopped by the white peaks of the Himalayas. The Brahmaputra annually inundates vast tracts of country. Extensive forests yield valuable timber; 90o sq.m. are reserved forest. Wild elephants abound in the forests. Rice forms the staple crop. Mustard and jute are also largely grown. The cultivation of tea has been introduced but is confined to 2,000 acres.
Dhubri (pop. 9,435), the administrative headquarters of the district stands on the Brahmaputra where that river takes its great bend south, and has a station on the Eastern Bengal State railway.