The story of Kalimpong
From Bhutan's hills to the wool road to Lhasa
The first people of these hills were the Lepcha, who call themselves Rongkup. In the late 17th century the Lepcha chief Gaeboo Achyok held a principality from his fort at Damsang, above Pedong, and fought the Bhutanese for these ridges. Bhutan won, executed him and ruled the hills east of the Teesta for more than 150 years; the Bhutanese built Thongsa Gompa in Kalimpong in 1692. Every 20 December the Lepcha community still gathers at the ruins of Damsang to remember Achyok.
The Anglo-Bhutan war of 1864–65 ended with the Treaty of Sinchula, signed in November 1865, which gave the British the Bhutanese land east of the Teesta. In 1866 Kalimpong joined Darjeeling district. Scottish missionaries came in the 1870s, and in 1900 the Rev. Dr John Anderson Graham opened the homes for Anglo-Indian children that are now Dr Graham's Homes on Deolo. Meanwhile mule caravans came down from Lhasa over Jelep La, through Pedong, and Kalimpong became India's main market for Tibetan wool.
The 1962 war closed Jelep La, and the trade ended almost overnight. Kalimpong turned to schools, flower nurseries and visitors. Tibetans who had fled after 1959 rebuilt monasteries here, among them Zang Dhok Palri on Durpin, consecrated by the 14th Dalai Lama in 1976. To the east, the forest department built lodges at Lava and Lolegaon, and Neora Valley became a national park in 1986. In February 2017 Kalimpong became a district of its own.
