#Lonely planet india darjeeling tongba free#

Continued friction between the BEIC and the Sikkim authorities resulted in the annexation of 640 square miles (1,700 km2) of territory in 1850.

#Lonely planet india darjeeling tongba free#

In 1849 British East India Company (BEIC) director Arthur Campbell and the explorer and botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker were imprisoned in the region the East India Company sent a force to free them. The Company negotiated a lease of the area west of the Mahananda River from the Chogyal of Sikkim in 1835. In 1828, a delegation of British East India Company officials on its way to Sikkim stayed in Darjeeling and decided that the region was a suitable site for a sanatorium for British soldiers. Until the early 19th century, the hilly area around Darjeeling was historically controlled by the kingdoms of Bhutan and Sikkim, while the plains around Siliguri were intermittently occupied by the kingdom of Nepal, with settlement consisting of a few households of Lepcha people. The history of Darjeeling is intertwined with that of Bengal, Bhutan, Sikkim and Nepal. In recent years the town's fragile ecology has been threatened by a rising demand for environmental resources, stemming from growing tourist traffic and poorly-planned urbanisation. The town, with its neighbour Kalimpong, was a center for the demand of the Gorkhaland separatist movement in the 1980s. Darjeeling also has several British-style public schools, which attract students from throughout India and neighbouring countries. The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway connects the town with the plains and has one of the few steam locomotives still in service in India. The resultant distinctive Darjeeling tea is internationally recognised and ranks among the most popular of the black teas. Subsequently, extensive tea plantations were established in the region, and tea growers developed distinctive hybrids of black tea and created new fermenting techniques.

It is the headquarters of Darjeeling district, located in the Mahabharat Range or Lesser Himalaya at an average elevation of 6,710 ft (2,050 m).Р”Вevelopment of the town dates back to the mid-19th century, when the British set up a sanatorium and a military depot. Darjeeling (Nepali: Р°В¤В¦Р°В¤С•Р°В¤В°Р°ТђРЊР°В¤СљР°ТђР‚Р°В¤Р†Р°В¤С—Р°В¤вЂљР°В¤вЂ” ), a town in the Indian state of West Bengal, is internationally famous for its tea industry and the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.