Siliguri (/sɪˈliˌɡʊri/) (Bengali pronunciation: [ʃiliɡuɽi]; ⓘ), also known as Shiliguri,[12][13] is a major tier-II city in West Bengal.

The city spans areas of the Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts in the Indian state of West Bengal.

[17][18] Siliguri has great strategic importance in West Bengal, with convenient access to three international borders: Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan.

[21] At that time a river port on Mahananda, South of Siliguri in Phansidewa had an important role in having trade bond with Malda, Bengal and Bihar.

Siliguri started as a small area in the northern part of city, on the front of Mahananda River, which is now Dagapur.

The Treaty of Sugauli in 1816, signed between Britain-Nepal, changed the prospects of Siliguri, and it became a point of transit for the Darjeeling hills and Nepal mainland.

From 1816 onwards, Siliguri started growing rapidly as a small city due to its strategic location in trade routes.

In 1865, the British captured Darjeeling and the entire Dooars region to build tea plantations and export the produce to England.

[25] Due to tremendous growth, Siliguri is now far away from its past outlook, becoming the largest and fastest growing city in eastern India after Guwahati.

A treaty between India and China for trade through Nathu La Pass, has expedited development and prospects of Siliguri as an international transportation and logistics hub.

[27] As Siliguri is located in the Terai region, the soil is sandy in nature with the ratio of sand and silt much higher than clay.

[28][29][30][31] The Siliguri subdivision is surrounded by Himalayan ranges towards north and towards south by the country Bangladesh, Uttar Dinajpur district of West Bengal and the Indian state of Bihar.

[60] In the municipal corporation at the time of the 2011 census, 60.88% of the population spoke Bengali, 25.24% Hindi, 4.66% Nepali, 2.39% Bhojpuri, 1.58% Marwari and 1.24% Urdu as their first language.

[57] Bengalis form the majority linguistic group in the city, followed by Biharis (including Bhojpuriyas), Marwaris, Punjabis, Nepalis, Odias, and Tribals.

In 1938, the Union Board was set up in Siliguri under the Bengal Village Self-Government Act, 1919 and it provided public utilities in the city.

[65] The mayor of Siliguri for the five-year term from 2015 till 2020 was Ashok Bhattacharya from CPI(M), who was later elected as the local Member of Legislative Assembly as well.

The last elections for the Lok Sabha took place in 2024, when Raju Bista from Bharatiya Janta Party won the seat.

These forests are also home of about 243 different bird species like the pied hornbill, egret, kingfisher, drongo, fly catcher, woodpecker and others.

This airport is a major transport hub in the region, with flights to Kolkata, Durgapur, New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Guwahati, Dibrugarh and has international connectivity with Paro and Bangkok.

Due to its location near Darjeeling hills and Sikkim, the Bagdogra Airport sees thousands of tourists annually.

[111] Siliguri hosts numerous sporting events and matches to influence and build develop young athletes from the city.

Some of the important sports enthusiast local clubs in Siliguri organise several cricket, football, volleyball, swimming competition, table-tennis matches etc.

[154] With the provision for an international outdoor and indoor stadium, Siliguri has enough opportunities to host national level matches.

[155] This has led Siliguri become a prominent city for national champions like Mantu Ghosh, the gold medalist winner in the bi-annual South Asian Games (SAF) for table tennis, Ankita Das,[156] Nandita Saha[157] and Soumyajit Ghosh[158] another internationally acclaimed table tennis player and Wriddhiman Saha – Indian international cricketer who plays First-class and Test cricket for the Indian national team.

[174] Gajoldoba view point is 28 km from Siliguri, famous for the huge reservoir formed by Teesta Barrage.

This reservoir is home for many species of migratory birds, including river lapwing, great crested grebe, Indian cormorant, purple heron, Eurasian wigeon, common shelduck, cotton teal, tufted duck, little ringed plover, and great cormorant.

This sanctuary is home to rare mountain goat, chital, barking dear, fishing cat, sambar deer, tiger, elephant and Indian bison and migratory birds.

[181] Ewam India Buddhist Monastrey is 11 km (6.8 mi) from Siliguri and is placed in the lap of nature near Bengal safari.

Dreamland Amusement Park, located near Fulbari, 12 km (7.5 mi) from Siliguri junction, is an agricultural land converted in a fun house.

[185] It also has various joy rides like adrenaline junkies, sky train, break dance, go-carting, and artificial bullsas well as a multiplex, kids zone, and restaurant.