Planning a Darjeeling Tour Package?

Romancing The Darjeeling Tea Gardens & Kunchenjunga.

?History Of Darjeeling & Tea Gardens

During the British Raj, Darjeeling's pleasant temperate climate led to its development as a hill station for British looking to escape the summer heat of the Bengal plains. The development of Darjeeling as a sanatorium and health resort proceeded briskly. Their efforts to develop the hill station, attracted immigrants to cultivate the slopes and attract trade resulted in a hundred fold increase in the population of Darjeeling between 1835 and 1849. Tea planting in the Indian district of Darjeeling began in 1841 by the British government and they also established tea nurseries during that period. Commercial development began during the 1850s. In 1856, the Alubari tea garden was opened by the Kurseong and Darjeeling Tea company, followed by others. "Darjeeling Tea" can only be referred to tea that has been cultivated, grown, produced, manufactured and processed in tea gardens in the hilly areas of "Sadar" Subdivision, only areas of Kalimpong District consisting of Samabeong Tea Estate, Ambiok Tea Estate, Mission Hill Tea Estate and Kumai Tea Estate, and Kurseong Subdivision. The first road connecting the town with the plains was constructed between 1839 and 1842. In 1848, a military depot was set up for British soldiers, and the town became a municipality in 1850. Commercial cultivation of tea in the district began in 1856, and induced a number of British planters to settle there. Darjeeling became the formal summer capital of the Bengal Presidency after 1864. Scottish missionaries constructed schools and welfare centers for the British residents, laying the foundation for Darjeeling's reputation as a center of education. The opening of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway in 1881 further multiplied the development of the region.