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Darjeeling
Information Darjeeling is a town in the Indian state of West Bengal
and centre of the region of the same name, situated in
the foothills of the Himalaya at elevations of between
2,000 and 3,000 metres above sea level. With India
attaining independence on 15 August 1947, the district
of Darjeeling remained in the partitioned section of
Bengal (West Bengal) and therefore in the Indian union.
With the district's sub-Himalayan and geographical
condition, it occupied an unique status in the state.
The only remaining industry, that is the Tea industry,
continued to play a major role in the economy of the
area and the country as well. The other natural wealth
forests have been adversely affected by the ever growing
population, now estimated to be around 1,200,000. In the
years since independence, much has been done for the
area's education, communication, attention to cash crops
like orange, potato, cardamom, ginger, etc. The region
is best known for its tea, see the Darjeeling tea
article for more information.
 Darjeerling has a modest tourism industry, with
attractions including the 'Tiger Hill' sunrise, the zoo,
the monastery and of course the tea fields. The town is
also sometimes used as a base by trekkers in the
Himalaya, and served as the starting point for many
attempts on Indian and Nepali peaks in the 20th century.
Tenzing Norgay, one of the two men to first climb Mt.
Everest grew up in the Sherpa community in Darjeeling.
His Everest ascent provided the impetus to establish the
Himalayan Mountaineering Institute in Darjeeling in
1954.
The town of Darjeeling can be reached by the 80-km long
Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (nicknamed the "Toy Train")
from Siliguri, or by a road which follows the railway
line. The railway was declared a World Heritage Site by
UNESCO in 1999. Darjeeling Himalayan Railway is only the
second railway to have this honor after the Semmering
Railway in Austria.
Since the formation of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill
Council in 1988 the hill areas fall under its
jurisdiction. It has elected Councilors and they have
the authority in managing certain affairs of the hill
like education, tourism, health etc.
History of Dajeeling
Until the beginning of the 18th century the whole of the
area between the present borders of Sikkim and the
plains of Bengal, including Darjeeling and Kalimpong,
belonged to the rajas of Sikkim. In 1706 they lost
Kalimpong to the Bhutanese, and control of the remainder
was wrested from them by the Gurkhas who invaded Sikkim
in 1780, following consolidation of the latter's rule in
Nepal.
These annexations by the Gurkhas, however, brought them
into conflict with the British East India Company. A
series of wars were fought between the two parties,
eventually leading to the defeat of the Gurkhas and the
ceding of all the land they had taken from the Sikkimese
to the East India Company. Part of this territory was
restored to the rajas of Sikkim and the country's
sovereignty guaranteed by the British in return for
British control over any disputes which arose with
neighbouring states.
One such dispute in 1828 led to the dispatch of two
British officers to this area, and it was during their
fact-finding tour that they spent some time at
Darjeeling (then called Dorje Ling - Place of the
Thunderbolt - after the lama who founded the monastery
which once stood on Observatory Hill). The officers were
quick to appreciate Darjeeling's value as a site for a
sanatorium and hill station, and as the key to a pass
into Nepal and Tibet. The officers' observations were
reported to the authorities in Kolkata and a pretext was
eventually found to pressure the raja into granting the
site to the British in return for an annual stipend of
Rs 3000 (raised to Rs 6000 in 1846).
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