Darjeeling - Queen of the Himalayas
The name 'Darjeeling' (also spelled Darjiling) comes from the Tibetan words, 'dorje' meaning thunderbolt (originally the scepter of Indra) and 'ling' a place or land, hence 'the land of the thunderbolt'. Mark Twain said about Darjeeling „The one land that all men desire to see, and having seen once by even a glimpse would not give that glimpse for the shows of the rest of the world combined.“
Darjeeling covers an area of about 3.000 square kilometers with 1.6 million inhabitants (for a comparison: The equally big Italian Aosta Valley only has 123.000 residents). The majority of the people living in Darjeeling just came within the last 100 years. Besides the official languages of Bengali and English, Nepali and Tibetan are spoken. The cultural and ethnic diversity is also reflected by the political frictions that characterizes Darjeeling since the 1980s until today.
Geographically Darjeeling can be divided into two areas: Hills and plains. From the four administrative districts Sadar, Kalimpong, Kurseong are located in the hills whereas Siliguri lies in the plain, which also goes by the name of Terai.
In Darjeeling agricultural use is made of land on heights between 1.000 and 2.000 meters. Above 2.000 meters one finds woods that fall victim to the demand for firewood as all forests in Darjeeling.
For the British Darjeeling became very interesting in the middle of the 19th century due to its strategic location and its climate. They partly conquered and partly leased Darjeeling from the principality of Sikkim. Darjeeling became a sought after hill station for the British to flee the heat and humidity of Kolkata.
Famous is Darjeeling for its tea, which is often referred to as “the champagne among teas”. Its aroma cannot be replicated elsewhere and is brought about by Darjeeling’s generally cold climate with intensive sunshine and cultivation on steep slopes in high altitudes. Tea is a cash crop since 1856.
Known is Darjeeling also for the spectacular views it offers on the Himalayas which earned it the sobriquet “Queen of the Himalayas”. On a clear day from Observatory Hill one can see the whole Himalaya mountain range and Tiger Hill offers a view on the majestic Kanchenjunga (8.598m). For a long time it was considered the world’s highest mountain. However, when the British measured India in 1849 they found out that Mount Everest and K2 overtop it.
Besides tea production tourism plays a more and more important role for Darjeeling’s economy. Promoted by Bollywood film-productions Indian as well as foreign tourists enjoy the treasures Darjeeling has to offer.
Climate/Weather
Darjeeling has mountain climate, with increasing altitude the temperature and absolute humidity will fall, temperature fluctuations and rainfall will increase as well.For further information on Darjeeling’s climate you may want to take a look here.