Darjeeling

Darjeeling is a hill city in the northernmost part of the Indian state of West Bengal, set in the Eastern Himalayas at an average elevation of about 2,045 metres. Nepal lies to its west, Bhutan to the east and the state of Sikkim to the north, and the peak of Kangchenjunga is clearly visible from the town on clear days. In the early nineteenth century the East India Company identified the ridge as a summer retreat for British officials, leased it from the Kingdom of Sikkim and later annexed it. Tea planting on the slopes proved highly successful, labourers were recruited chiefly from Nepal, and the narrow-gauge Darjeeling Himalayan Railway linked the town to the plains by the late nineteenth century.