Molungkimong Village

Molungkimong is a village in the Alongkima circle of Mokokchung district, roughly 39 km from Mokokchung town and about 15 km from Tuli, the nearest town for markets and services. Local tradition dates its founding to 1303 AD. Home to some 2,800 people in about 534 houses, it is best known as the first village in Nagaland to accept Christianity.

That step was taken on 22 December 1872 under Rev. Edwin Winter Clark, an American missionary, who is said to have arrived through the village gate with an escort of sixty warriors; the gate is now remembered as the first on Naga soil. On the same day Clark baptised fifteen converts and the first church in Nagaland was founded. A litchi tree said to have been planted by an early ancestor is known locally as the Tree of Life. Facilities are basic and the road is rough, so visitors are mostly history enthusiasts and often praise their hosts.