Years ago the mountain spurs, on the slopes of which the hill station of Darjeeling now stands, formed a part of the independent kingdom of Sikkim and was covered with dense forest. There were not more than two hundred inhabitants when the East India Company, which then controlled British interests in India, first came into contact with Darjeeling.
This was in 1814 when the Company intervened in favour of Sikkim as against the war-like Nepalese, who would otherwise have absorbed the whole of the little State of Sikkim and annexed it to their own territory. The Nepalese were repulsed in the war that ensued, and the Raja of Sikkim was reinstated in possession of his kingdom. Sikkim, including Darjeeling became a buffer state between Nepal and Bhutan. In 1828, a frontier dispute occurred between the Sikkimese and the Nepalese.
While settling the internal feuds between these two States, principally in matters relating to the settling of the boundary between the two territories, they were struck with the suitability of the hills as a sanitarium for the British troops, on a summit of which they could spy from a distance the few lowly huts of the village of Darjeeling encircled by the forest. In the long run, being deputed by the Court of Directors of the East India Company, Lloyd started negotiation with the Maharaja of Sikkim for ceding the mountainous region, now going by the charming name, Darjeeling, in lieu of money or land. Lloyd with his imposing personality succeeded in making the negotiation fruitful.
Places of intrest : Chowrastha: Natural History Museum:, Himalayan Zoological Park:, Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, Himalayan Zoological Park, Observatory Hill:
