The Barak Valley is located in the southern region of the Indian state of Assam. The main city of the valley is Silchar. The region is named after the Barak river. The Barak valley mainly consists of three administrative districts of Assam - namely Cachar, Karimganj, and Hailakandi. Among these three districts, Cachar and Hailakandi historically belonged to the Kachari Kingdom before the British Raj, whereas Karimganj belonged to the Sylhet region then Assam province, which was then separated from Sylhet after the 1947 referendum; with the rest of Sylhet falling under East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and Karimganj under India.