History of Darjeeling
The British, using the area as a sanitorium, found that the climate provided excellent tea-cultivating conditions and soon began to grow tea on the hills of Darjeeling.
After the Anglo-Gorkha War, Nepal ceded one-third of it territories to the British under the 1816 Sugauli Treaty, which included the land area between the Mechi and Teesta Rivers.
On 10 February 1817, the British returned the land area between the Mechi and Teesta to the Sikkimese Chogyal under the Treaty of Titalia.
In 1826, Chogyal Tsugphud Namgyal (on the advice of his mother who was a Lepcha herself) passed a resolution for the assassination of his Prime Minister - Bolot.
Bolot was the maternal uncle to Tsugphud Namgyal and his assassination was carried out by 'Lhachos' identified by Maharaja's history as the father of 'Cheebu Lama'.
Bolot's nephews, the sons of Kotaba Kungha named Dathup, Jerung Denon and Kazi Gorok left Sikkim taking with them 800 houses of Lepcha subjects from Chidam and Namthang and went to Ilam in Nepal where their descendants still reside to this day.
In February 1829 dispute between Nepal and Sikkim arose regarding their borders (especially Ontoo Dara) and the then British Governor-General of India, Lord William Bentinck, sent two officers, Captain George Alymer Lloyd and J. W. Grant, to help resolve the situation.
"From a report dated the 18th June 1829, in which he claims to have been the only European who ever visited the place, we learn that Lloyd visited the old Goorka station called Dorjeling’ for six days in February 1829 ... Darjeeling itself, though formerly occupied by a large village and the residence of one of the principal Kazis, was deserted, and the country round it was sparsely inhabited ...
The country was still practically uninhabited ... About 10 years previously 1,200 able-bodied Lepchas, forming, according to Captain Herbert, two-thirds of the population of Sikkim, had been forced by the oppression of the Raja to fly from Darjeeling and its neighbourhood, and to take refuge in Nepal.
The lease as per the Deed of Grant was granted on 1 February 1835 and runs as follows: "The Governor-General having expressed his desire for the possession of the hills of Darjeeling on account of its cool climate, for the purpose of enabling the servants of his Government, suffering from sickness, to avail themselves of its advantages, I the Sikkimputtee Rajah out of friendship for the said Governor-General, hereby present Darjeeling to the East India, that is, all the land south of the Great Runjeet river, east of the Balasur, Kahail and Little Runjeet rivers, and west of the Rungpo and Mahanadi rivers.
"[4]This was an unconditional cession of what was then a worthless uninhabited mountain, but in 1841 the British government granted the Chogyal of Sikkim an allowance of Rs.
Relations deteriorated to such an extent that when Dr. Campbell and the plant collector Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker were touring in Sikkim in 1849, they were captured and imprisoned.
The area of Kalimpong along with the Dooars became British property following the defeat of Bhutan in the Anglo-Bhutan war (Treaty of Sinchula – 11 November 1865).
The town did not see any significant political activity during the freedom struggle of India owing to its remote location and small population.
The population spurt made the town more prone to the environmental problems of recent decades as the region is geologically relatively new.
Political tensions largely declined with the establishment of Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council under the chairmanship of Subhash Ghisingh.
