Popular Hill Station

Present day Lonavala was a part of the Yadava dynasty. The area around Lonavala was an important Buddhist center in 2nd century BC and a number of ancient Buddhist rock-cut cave temples can be found in this area. As Lonavala is located in the inhospitable terrain of the Sahyadri mountain range, it was not an important site in terms of history. The forts in the region and the Mavla warriors played an important role in the history of the Maratha and Peshwa empires. Chattrapati Shivaji, the founder of the first Maratha Empire, ruled this area. Later it came under the Peshwa rulers, who founded the second Maratha Empire.

In 1871, the Lonavla and Khandala hill stations were discovered by Lord Elphinstone, who was the Governor of Bombay Presidency during those times. It was finally taken over by the British when they defeated the Peshwas.

The history of Khandala states that the origin of the hill station is obscure. Khandala had once been a part of Chattrapati Shivaji''s empire. After the Marathas, the territory of Khandala passed under the Peshwas. When the British came, the territory was taken over by them in 1811.

The origin of the name “Darjeeling” is most likely from the Tibetan words ‘Dorje’ which means ‘thunderbolt’ and ‘Ling’ which means place or land. Quite literally, it is the ‘Land of the Thunderbolt’. Originally, this was the name given to a Buddhist monastery atop the Observatory Hill which over time became the name of the whole surrounding area.

Historically, Darjeeling was part of Sikkim and the Kingdom of Sikkim extended as far as eastern Nepal. However, the late 1700s saw a barrage of attacks from Nepal resulting in Darjeeling becoming a part of Nepal. This changed in 1814 when the British East India Company declared war with Nepal due to border disputes. The victorious British forced the Nepalese to cede 4,000 square miles (10,000 km²) of territory through a treaty signed at Segouli at the end of 1816. The Rajah (King) of Sikkim was reinstated making Sikkim (including Darjeeling) a buffer state between Nepal and Bhutan.

Ten years after the treaty, fresh dispute broke out and the Governor General William Bentick sent two officers – Captain Lloyd and Mr. J.W. Grant, Commercial Resident of Malda to restore normalcy. The two officers found Darjeeling to be a suitable to establish a “sanitarium” (a type of health resort) and the strategic location of Darjeeling as a gateway to Nepal and Bhutan was an added bonus.

Sikkim was originally inhabited by a mix of tribes namely the Naong, Chang and Mon, all of whom soon came to be known as ‘Lepchas’. They were very peace loving people, deeply religious and worshipped nature. When migrants (the present day Bhutias) from Tibet started filtering in, the process of conversion to Buddhism successfully started among the locals. In order to establish their presence the immigrants sealed the new order by appointing Phuntsok Namgyal as the temporal and spiritual leader of Sikkim.

By the 18th century Nepal started making inroads into Sikkim under the leadership of Raja Prithvi Narayan Shah who fermented the rebellious elements in Sikkim. There were serious differences between the Nepalese settlers and the earlier inhabitants (Bhutias and Lepchas) of Sikkim and this led to British intervention.

The British became interested in Darjeeling (then part of Sikkim) also, both as a hill resort and an outpost from where Tibet and Sikkim would be easily accessible. Following a lot of pressure from the British, Sikkim finally gifted Darjeeling to British India with the understanding that a certain amount would be paid as an annual subsidy to Sikkim. The British turned back from their word and did not pay the compensation. The relations suffered to an extent that when Dr. Campbell, the Superintendent of Darjeeling and Dr. Hooker visited Sikkim in connection with the latter's botanical research; they were captured and imprisoned in 1849. The British issued an ultimatum and the two captives were released after a month of detention.

Frequent clashes resulted in a stern action when a strong force was sent in 1861 that resulted in the capture of the capital Tumlong and the signing of a Treaty between the British and Sikkim. The Britishers appointed Claude White as the first political officer in Sikkim in 1889 and Chogyal Thutob Namgyal was virtually under his supervision.

In 1947 when India became independent, the head of Sikkim managed a deal with India that granted it the special status of ‘protectorate’. By the beginning of 1970 there were political upheavals. It soon became the 22nd state of the Indian Union on 16th may 1975.

History of Almora can be traced back to ancient times of Mahabharata. However, the earliest historical account of the place is provided by a Chinese pilgrim of seventh century. The pilgrim wrote in great detail about a kingdom called ‘Brahmaputra’.

The ancient town of Almora, before its establishment was under the possession of Katyuri king Baichaldeo. He donated major part of this land to a Gujrati Brahmin Sri Chand Tiwari [1] Later on when Chand kingdom was founded in Baramandal, the town of Almora was founded at this centrally located place in 1568 [2] by Kalyan Chand.[citation needed] In the days of the Chand Kings it was called Rajapur. The name 'Rajpur' is also mentioned over a number of ancient copper plates.

In 1744 during the raid by Ali Muhammad Khan Rohilla, Almora was taken over from Chand dynasty. However, unable to bear the hardships of living in the hills, the Rohillas chiefs, placed by Ali Mohammad Khan Rohilla, returned Almora for a heavy bribe of three lakh rupees.

Ali Mohammad, dissatisfied with the conduct of his commanders, attacked Almora again in 1745. However, this time the Rohillas were defeated. They never came back again.

In 1790, Almora was conquered by the Gurkhas who ruled it for the next 24 years until it was taken over by the British in 1815. Today, Almora is a primary center for trade and other activities – social, cultural, political- and is a district place of Uttarakhand State in India.