File:Major kingdoms of Assam.png|thumb|upright=1.3|Major kingdoms of Assam{{sfn|Baruah|1986}}
rect 50 50 650 120 [[Kamarupa|Kamarupa Kingdom]]
rect 45 240 160 310 [[Kamata Kingdom]]
rect 165 240 300 310 [[Baro-Bhuyan|Bhuyan chieftains]]
rect 305 240 415 310 [[Ahom Kingdom]]
rect 425 240 540 310 [[Chutiya Kingdom]]
rect 550 240 660 310 [[Kachari Kingdom]]
rect 4 425 80 495 [[Cooch Behar State|Koch Bihar]]
rect 120 425 190 495 [[Koch Hajo]]
rect 125 660 640 760 [[Colonial Assam|History of Assam]]
The history of Assam is the history of a confluence of people from the east, west, south and the north; the confluence of the Austroasiatic, Tibeto-Burman (Sino-Tibetan), Tai and Indo-Aryan cultures. Although invaded over the centuries, it was never a vassal or a colony to an external power until the third Burmese invasion in 1821, and, subsequently, the British ingress into Assam in 1824 during the First Anglo-Burmese War.
The Assamese history has been derived from multiple sources. The Ahom kingdom of medieval Assam maintained chronicles, called Buranjis, written in the Ahom and the Assamese languages. History of ancient Assam comes from a corpus of Kamarupa inscriptions on rock, copper plates, clay; royal grants, etc. that the Kamarupa kings issued during their reign.
The history of Assam can be divided into four eras. The ancient era began in the 4th century with the mention of Kamarupa in Samudragupta's inscriptions on the Allahabad pillar and the establishment of the Kamarupa kingdom. The medieval era began with the attacks from the Bengal Sultanate, the first of which took place in 1206 by Bakhtiyar Khilji as mentioned in the Kanai-boroxiboa rock inscription, after the breakup of the ancient kingdom and the sprouting of medieval kingdoms and chieftain-ships in its place. The colonial era began with the establishment of British control after the Treaty of Yandaboo in 1826, and the post-colonial era began in 1947 after the Independence of India.
A common theme of Medieval kingship narratives in Assam is associated with shaktism and the Kamakhya temple.