Hkamti Township: History
The name "Hkamti" means "Place of Gold". According to James George Scott's 1901 Gazetteer of Upper Burma and the Shan States, the Hkamti area was ruled by seven "Sawbwas" before the British arrived. Hkamti was bordered to the east and the south by Uyu Township and to the west by Chin country bordering Assam and covered an area of 2576 square miles.
In the 1900s the British established a small rubber plantation with hevea trees at Mepok. It didn't prove successful. In 1914 the British built Fort Hertz in the territory of what was then Hkamti Long. Captain Frank Kingdon-Ward visited it on his travels. Hkamti later became the headquarters of the Myanmar Hills for the 52nd Myanmar Regiment who were controlling the area.
In creating the Naga Self-Administered Zone in 2010, a small portion of Hkamti Township south of the Kundwin Hemu (stream) was transferred to Leshi Township.
At 4am on 9 September 2016, a hand-made bomb was detonated about 800 metres (2,600 ft) from Hkamti town. One person was killed, the person who detonated the bomb. Investigation of the area by the authorities found four unexploded mines which failed to detonate which were believed to be due to wet gunpowder. In July 2018, extensive flooding during the summer monsoon saw the village of Thazi evacuated and the people relocated.