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About Darjeeling |
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The history of Darjeeling seemed to have begun with the establishment of a hill station by the British East India Company in 1835. Before that the region was under the subjugation of the the Sikkim ruler, who after a deal with company gave them permission to develop a sanatorium for its soldiers. Once the British got hold of the region, the era of planned development began, which saw the emergence of a new hill station in the form of Darjeeling.
The sloping terrain and the composition of the soil found here were suitable for the establishment of tea plantations, and the British started to toy the idea in 1841. The overwhelming success of the experiments gave immense scope for the cultivation of fine brand of tea and soon the entire area was covered with a number of tea estates, which attracted migrants and laborers from the nearby areas, such Nepal for working in them. They were also employed in other construction and agricultural based projects. By the middle of the nineteenth century, the British had annexed Darjeeling and established their full control over it.
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Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, which came into existence in 1881, proved a landmark in the development of the region, and the city began to scale new heights quicker than before. Meanwhile the contribution made by the missionaries in the field of education was creating a new aspect of the city. The establishment of hight quality schools based on the model prevalent in the their own country was soon to bring Darjeeling on the education map of the country. Apart from the establishments of schools, the missionaries also played important roles in the construction of welfare centers and development of other basic amenities.
The British ruled Darjeeling under the law applicable normally to the less privileged and economically less developed districts of the country. When the Bengal was divided into the eastern and western parts in 1905, Darjeeling was brought under the jurisdiction of the province of East Bengal and Assam. The city had by now acquired a significant status among the members of the British ruling class and affluent citizens of the country. Soon it became a tourist destination attracting a large number of visitors every year and got the fitting sobriquet of the "Queen of the Hills" by the British.
Darjeeling did not contribute much in the freedom struggle movement against the colonial power, possibly because of it being located remotely. By and large, it remained aloof from the mainstream politics of the nationalist leaders, except for one incident wherein an attempt was made to kill the Governor of Bengal. Though the incident, which took place in 1930s, failed miserably, it brought into light the patriotic fervor of the community living here.
When India got independence in 1947, a separate district of Darjeeling consisting of the hill towns of Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Kurseong and some parts of the Terai region was created within the state of West Bengal. The decade of 80s in the twentieth century saw intense political activities and stirring events led by the Gorkha National Liberation Front on demand of a separate a state of Gorkhaland. The demand however subsided with the establishment of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Councity (DGHC), later changed to Darjeeling Autonomous Hill Council (DGAHC), under the chairmanship of GNLF leader Subhash Gishing. In recent years, the issue of Gorkhaland started to reemerge under the leadership of Bimal Gurung of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha.
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