page_title: History of Darjeeling
section_title: East India Company Lease
hierarchical_section_title: History of Darjeeling / East India Company Lease
caption_attribution_description: "This was taken from our Hotel　(Hotel Swami) Room at early morning.　This is our very first day at Darjeeling and this is the first time i was watching Kanchanjunga just wake up from sleep...I was just stunned by its beauty!!! It was an amazing experience which can't be explain at words and i believe no photograph can give you that feelings." Location: Darjeeling Nikon D60 + AF-S DX Nikkor 18-55mm VR + Adobe Photoshop CS3
context_page_description: The History of Darjeeling covers the history of Darjeeling town and its adjoining hill areas belonging to Sikkim, but eventually part of British India so now in the Indian state of West Bengal, which is intertwined with the history of Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, Bengal and Great Britain. Part of the state of Sikkim, Darjeeling became part of an important buffer state between Nepal and Bhutan. 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. Darjeeling tea remains a world-renowned export from Darjeeling.
context_section_description: 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. On the journey to Ontoo Dara the two officers stayed at Darjeeling for six days at "the old Goorka station called Dorjeling", which Lloyd noted was populated by "100 souls" of Lepchas, and were "much impressed with the possibility of the station as a sanatorium." On 18 June 1829, Lloyd communicated to the government regarding the possibility of Darjeeling serving as a sanatorium, while about the same time Grant also urged the government to acquire the tract. 
  "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 hill territory of Darjeeling having thus been ceded, General Lloyd and Dr. Chapman were sent in 1836 to explore the country ... 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. What little cultivation there was, had been abandoned."
  Bentinck agreed to acquire  the hill tract  as  a  military  outpost  and  sanatorium, acknowledging that it also offered strategic advantages as a military outpost and trading hub. Captain Herbert, the Deputy Surveyor General, was then sent to Darjeeling to examine the area. The court of Directors of the British East India Company approved the project. General Lloyd was given the responsibility to negotiate a lease of the area from the Chogyal of Sikkim. 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."
  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. 100,000 per annum as compensation, and raised the grant to Rs. 6,000 per annum in 1846.
caption: View of the Kangchenjunga peaks from Darjeeling
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