page_title: Darjeeling
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Darjeeling / History
caption_attribution_description: The Batasia loop is an engineering marvel where the railway tracks intersect to form a figure of eight. The war memorial at the centre of the loop honours those sons of Darjeeling who died in the several wars since 1947.
context_page_description: Darjeeling is a city and a municipality in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is located in the Lesser Himalayas at an elevation of 2,000 metres. It is noted for its tea industry, its views of Kangchenjunga, the world's third-highest mountain, and the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Darjeeling is the headquarters of the Darjeeling district which has a partially autonomous status called Gorkhaland Territorial Administration within the state of West Bengal. It is also a popular tourist destination in India.
  The recorded history of the town starts from the early 19th century when the colonial administration under the British Raj set up a sanatorium and a military depot in the region. Subsequently, extensive tea plantations were established in the region and tea growers developed hybrids of black tea and created new fermentation techniques. The resultant distinctive Darjeeling tea is internationally recognised and ranks among the most popular black teas in the world. The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway connects the town with the plains and has some of the few steam locomotives still in service in India.
context_section_description: The history of Darjeeling is intertwined with that of Sikkim, Nepal, British India, and Bhutan. Until the early 19th century, the hilly area around Darjeeling was controlled by the Kingdom of Sikkim with the settlement consisting of a few villages of the Lepcha and Kirati people. The Chogyal of Sikkim had been engaged in unsuccessful warfare against the Gurkhas of Nepal. The territory of Darjeeling and its history goes on back to the ancient Yakthung Limbuwan Laje kingdom. After the Treaty of Sugauli in 1816 CE between the Gurkha king and the East India Company, Darjeeling was ceded to Sikkim through British India. The territory of Yakthung Laje Limbuwan, including Darjeeling, became a de facto possession of Sikkim, although it was not ruled by Sikkim but long remained as leasehold land. The Yakhung Limbu Kings and Gurkha King concluded the Treaty of Salt and Water in 1774 CE, but it was violated by Gurkha Kings on the Treaty of Sugauli while Limbu rulers were not attended in the treaty. This resulted in the territory between the Arun River and the Teesta River being part of Yakthung Laje Limbuwan.
  From 1780, the Gurkhas made several attempts to capture the entire region of Darjeeling. By the beginning of the 19th century, they had overrun Sikkim as far eastward as the Teesta River and had conquered and annexed the Terai and the entire area now belonged to Nepal. In the meantime, the British Army was engaged in preventing the Gurkhas from over-running the whole of the northern frontier. The Anglo-Nepalese War broke out in 1814, which resulted in the defeat of the Gurkhas and subsequently led to the signing of the Sugauli Treaty in 1816. According to the treaty, Nepal had to cede all those territories annexed from the Chogyal of Sikkim to the British East India Company (i.e. the area between Mechi River and Teesta River). Later in 1817, through the Treaty of Titalia, the British East India Company reinstated the Chogyal of Sikkim, restored all the tracts of land between the River Mechi and the River Teesta to the Chogyal of Sikkim and guaranteed his sovereignty.
  In 1828, a delegation of the British East India Company (BEIC) officials on its way to the Nepal-Sikkim border stayed in Darjeeling and decided that the region was a suitable site for a sanatorium for British soldiers. The company negotiated a lease of the area west of the Mahananda River from the Chogyal of Sikkim in 1835. In 1849, the BEIC Superintendent Archibald Campbell and the explorer and botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker were imprisoned in the region by the Sikkim Chogyal. The BEIC sent a force to free them. Continued friction between the BEIC and the Sikkim authorities resulted in the annexation of 1,700 square kilometres (640 sq mi) of territory by the British in 1850. In 1864, the Bhutanese rulers and the British signed the Treaty of Sinchula that ceded the passes leading through the hills and Kalimpong to the British. Further discord between Sikkim and the British resulted in a war, culminating in the signing of a treaty and the annexation by the British of the area east of the Teesta River in 1865. By 1866, Darjeeling district had assumed its current shape and size, covering an area of 3,200 square kilometres (1,234 sq mi).
  During the British Raj, Darjeeling's temperate climate led to its development as a hill station for British residents seeking to escape the summer heat of the plains. The development of Darjeeling as a sanatorium and health resort proceeded briskly. Arthur Campbell, a surgeon with the company, and Lieutenant Robert Napier were responsible for establishing a hill station there. Campbell's efforts to develop the station, attract immigrants to cultivate the slopes and stimulate trade resulted in a hundredfold increase in the population of Darjeeling between 1835 and 1849. The first road connecting the town with the plains was constructed between 1839 and 1842. In 1848, a military depot was set up for British soldiers, and the town became a municipality in 1850.
  Commercial cultivation of tea in the district began in 1856, and induced a num
caption: A view of the Darjeeling War Memorial, located at the Batasia Loop of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway. Kangchenjunga is visible in the background.
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