CHOTA NAGPUR, a division of British India in Bihar and Orissa, consisting of five British districts, viz., Hazaribagh, Ranchi, Palamau, Manbhum and Singhbhum. Chota Nagpur consists of a hilly, forest-clad plateau, inhabited mostly by aboriginal races, between the basins of the Son, the Ganges and the Mahanadi. The total area is 27,065 sq. miles. The population in 1931 was 6.643.934- The plateau is an offshoot of the great Vindhyan range, and its mean elevation is upwards of 2,000f t. above the sea-level. It is not an open table-land, but broken up by numer ous ranges and hills enclosing ravines and valleys. A large area is still under forest. The principal agricultural products are rice, Indian corn, pulses, oil-seeds and potatoes. A small quantity of tea is grown in Ranchi district. The principal jungle products are timber, lac, tussur silk and mahud flowers, which are used as food and also distilled into a strong country liquor. Chota Nagpur contains the Jharia, Giridih, Bokaro, Karanpura, Ram garh and Daltonganj coal-fields. The output in 1925 was nearly 14 million tons or 70% of the total output of India. It has other valuable mineral resources. Mica is mined in Hazaribagh and iron ore in Singhbhum, where the output is already nearly half a million tons; there is a belt of copper ore in the latter district, where also manganese ore, gold, chromite and apatite occur ; and important deposits of bauxite have been found in Ranchi and Palamau.
The indigenous inhabitants consist of non-Aryan tribes, the principal of whom are the Hos, Oraons, Santals, Mundas and Bhumij. Except in Palamau these tribes were never subdued by the Mohammedans, who contented themselves with occasional expeditions and an irregular tribute of diamonds. Until the coun try passed under British rule, moreover, there was very little communication between Chota Nagpur and the plains of India, with the result that the tribes have preserved to a large extent their languages, customs and primitive religions.