the history...

Haat Bazaar, 1932

Once the headquarters of a Bhutanese governor, the word ‘kalim’means king’s minister and ‘pong’ means the stronghold, hence the stronghold of the king’s minister. It is also called ‘Kalibong’ or the black spur.  But the meaning that has found most favour is the Lepcha meaning of the name “the ridge where we play”.

Looking back into the history of Kalimpong, it is said that it was first populated by Lepchas. Animist in their beliefs, they worshipped Nature and looked upon Kanchendzonga as their sacred deity.  Till date different people have different opinions regarding the origin of the Lepcha clan.  Some are of the opinion that their surnames were derived from the names of the lakes situated at the foothills of Kanchendzonga.  It is said that the Dukpas from Bhutan often plundered and ransacked the villages of Lepchas, who were timid and meek by nature.

Around the year 1706, the Bhutanese were finally successful in occupying Kalimpong.  Between 1706 and 1864, there were continuous conflicts in the region between Bhutan, Sikkim, Nepal and the British.  Consequently, 1864, the British sent a small force to Bhutan and enforced a treaty by which what is now the Kalimpong subdivision and some adjoining areas in the Bhutanese hills were ceded to the British on annual subsidy.  It fell under British India under a subdivision of Western Dooars and was subsequently transferred to Darjeeling district in 1866.

…. Of the trading ground

Unlike its elder sister Darjeeling, Kalimpong has never been a tea town or a tourist resort.   Rather, it was even half-a-century ago an important trading town. It was a commercial center for trade between India and Tibet via Jelepa, an important mountain pass located about 100 km from Kalimpong.  They trade in musk, hides, furs, curios, herbs and minerals of medicinal value, yak’s tails and especially wool were carried by mule caravan to Kalimpong.  In the beginning, Kalimpong was merely a receiving and dispatching center, but soon large godowns were built in the Top Khana area.  Here more than 3,000 local people were employed for drying the wool, sorting and bailing that came from Tibet.  In exchange, the Tibetan traders carried home cloth, sugar and food products back home.  However, the Chinese occupation of Tibet meant the end of the Indo-Tibet trade and godowns had to be put to other uses, one of which serves as a school building for Tibetan refugee children – the Central School for Tibetans.

Beside trade with Tibet, the entry of missionaries was also responsible for the early expansion of Kalimpong from a sleepy hamlet to a sizeable town that it is today.  Schools and hospitals were established by the missionaries as early as 1873 and 1893 respectively.