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[[File:Shimla Southern Side of Ridge.JPG|thumb|250x250px|[[Shimla]], a city founded as a hill station. The city's urban planning and architecture, as seen here on the south side of [[The Ridge, Shimla|the Ridge]], were designed to foster a European experience for homesick colonial officials and executives.]]
[[File:Shimla Southern Side of Ridge.JPG|thumb|250x250px|[[Shimla]], a city founded as a hill station. The city's urban planning and architecture, as seen here on the south side of [[The Ridge, Shimla|the Ridge]], were designed to foster a European experience for homesick colonial officials and executives.]]
A '''hill station''' is a touristic town located at a higher elevation than the nearby plain or valley. The English term was originally used mostly in [[Western imperialism in Asia|colonial Asia]], but also in Africa (albeit rarely), for towns founded by European colonialists as refuges from the summer heat.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Hill Station: In India: Urban settlement |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/hill-station |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |quote=A special type of urban place to which British rule gave rise were the hill stations, such as Shimla (Simla) and Darjiling (Darjeeling). Those were erected at elevations high enough to provide cool retreats for the dependents of Europeans stationed in India and, in the summer months, to serve as seasonal capitals of the central or provincial governments.}}</ref> Historian Dane Kennedy observes about the Indian context, "the hill station (...) was seen as an exclusive British preserve: here it was possible to render the Indian into an outsider".<ref name="cdlib1996">Kennedy, Dane. The Magic Mountains: Hill Stations and the British Raj. Berkeley: University of California Press, c1996 1996. | http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft396nb1sf/</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://southasia.ucla.edu/hill-stations-pinnacles-raj/|title = Hill Stations: Pinnacles of the Raj|website=southasia.ucla.edu}}</ref> The term is still used in present day, particularly in India, which has the largest number of hill stations, most are situated at an altitude of approximately {{convert|1000|to|2,500|metres}}.
A '''hill station''' is a touristic town located at a higher elevation than the nearby plain or valley. The English term was originally used mostly in [[Western imperialism in Asia|colonial Asia]], but also in Africa (albeit rarely), for towns founded by European colonialists as refuges from the summer heat as historian Dane Kennedy observes about the Indian context, "the hill station (...) was seen as an exclusive British preserve: here it was possible to render the Indian into an outsider".<ref name="cdlib1996">Kennedy, Dane. The Magic Mountains: Hill Stations and the British Raj. Berkeley: University of California Press, c1996 1996. | http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft396nb1sf/</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://southasia.ucla.edu/hill-stations-pinnacles-raj/|title = Hill Stations: Pinnacles of the Raj|website=southasia.ucla.edu}}</ref> The term is still used in present day, particularly in India, which has the largest number of hill stations, most are situated at an altitude of approximately {{convert|1000|to|2,500|metres}}.


== History ==
== History ==


=== In South Asia ===
=== In South Asia ===
Some view [[Nandi Hills, India|Nandi Hills]], an 11th-century hill top fortress that was developed by the [[Ganga Dynasty (Western)|Ganga dynasty]] in present-day [[Karnataka]], India, as a precursor to the hill station concept.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.outlookindia.com/outlooktraveller/travelnews/story/71232/nandi-hills|title=Plans include beautification of the entire hill station to attract tourists|date=26 February 2021|publisher = Outlook India}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Āgama Aura Tripiṭaka, Eka Anuśilana: Language and Literature|page=500|author=Muni Nagraj}}</ref> [[Tipu Sultan]] (1751–1799) notably used it as a summer retreat.<ref>{{cite book | last=Myer | first=H. | title=India 2001: Reference Encyclopedia | publisher=South Asia Publications | issue=v. 1 | year=1995 | isbn=978-0-945921-42-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F_BtAAAAMAAJ | page=37}}</ref>


Hill stations in [[British Raj|British India]] were established for a variety of reasons. One of the first reasons in the early 1800s, was for the place to act as a [[sanitorium]] for the ailing family members of British officials.<ref name="Kennedy1996">{{cite book|author=Dane Keith Kennedy|title=The Magic Mountains: Hill Stations and the British Raj|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UveLzKDlZBEC&pg=PR9|year=1996|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-20188-0|page=24}}</ref> After the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857|rebellion of 1857]], the British "sought further distance from what they saw as a [[First cholera pandemic (1817–24)|disease-ridden]] land by [escaping] to the [[Himalayas]] in the north". Other factors included anxieties about the dangers of life in India, among them "fear of degeneration brought on by too long residence in a debilitating land". The hill stations were meant to reproduce the home country, illustrated in [[Edward Bulwer-Lytton|Lord Lytton]]'s statement about [[Ooty|Ootacamund]] in the 1870s as having "such beautiful English rain, such delicious English mud."<ref name="MetcalfMetcalf2002">{{cite book|author1=Barbara D. Metcalf |author2=Thomas R. Metcalf |title=A Concise History of India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jGCBNTDv7acC |year=2002 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-63974-3 |page=111 }}</ref> [[Shimla]] was officially made the "summer capital of India" in the 1860s and hill stations "served as vital centres of political and military power, especially after the 1857 revolt."<ref name="kennedyDane">{{cite book |last1=Kennedy |first1=Dane |title=The Magic Mountains: Hill Stations and the British Raj |date=1996 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley |url=http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft396nb1sf;brand=ucpress|access-date=19 August 2014}}</ref><ref name="Vipin1996">{{cite book | author=Vipin Pubby | title=Shimla Then and Now | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UrZ-ibfhMyMC&pg=PA17 | access-date=16 August 2013 | year=1996 | publisher=Indus Publishing | isbn=978-81-7387-046-0 | pages=17–34}}</ref>
Hill stations in [[British Raj|British India]] were established for a variety of reasons. One of the first reasons in the early 1800s, was for the place to act as a [[sanitorium]] for the ailing family members of British officials.<ref name="Kennedy1996">{{cite book|author=Dane Keith Kennedy|title=The Magic Mountains: Hill Stations and the British Raj|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UveLzKDlZBEC&pg=PR9|year=1996|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-20188-0|page=24}}</ref> After the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857|rebellion of 1857]], the British "sought further distance from what they saw as a [[First cholera pandemic (1817–24)|disease-ridden]] land by [escaping] to the [[Himalayas]] in the north". Other factors included anxieties about the dangers of life in India, among them "fear of degeneration brought on by too long residence in a debilitating land". The hill stations were meant to reproduce the home country, illustrated in [[Edward Bulwer-Lytton|Lord Lytton]]'s statement about [[Ooty|Ootacamund]] in the 1870s as having "such beautiful English rain, such delicious English mud."<ref name="MetcalfMetcalf2002">{{cite book|author1=Barbara D. Metcalf |author2=Thomas R. Metcalf |title=A Concise History of India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jGCBNTDv7acC |year=2002 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-63974-3 |page=111 }}</ref> [[Shimla]] was officially made the "summer capital of India" in the 1860s and hill stations "served as vital centres of political and military power, especially after the 1857 revolt."<ref name="kennedyDane">{{cite book |last1=Kennedy |first1=Dane |title=The Magic Mountains: Hill Stations and the British Raj |date=1996 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley |url=http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft396nb1sf;brand=ucpress|access-date=19 August 2014}}</ref><ref name="Vipin1996">{{cite book | author=Vipin Pubby | title=Shimla Then and Now | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UrZ-ibfhMyMC&pg=PA17 | access-date=16 August 2013 | year=1996 | publisher=Indus Publishing | isbn=978-81-7387-046-0 | pages=17–34}}</ref>
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* Crossette, Barbara. ''The Great Hill Stations of Asia''. {{ISBN|0-465-01488-7}}.
* Crossette, Barbara. ''The Great Hill Stations of Asia''. {{ISBN|0-465-01488-7}}.
* Kennedy, Dane. [http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft396nb1sf/ ''The Magic Mountains: Hill Stations and the British Raj'']. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996. {{ISBN|0-520-20188-4}}, {{ISBN|978-0520201880}}.
* Kennedy, Dane. [http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft396nb1sf/ ''The Magic Mountains: Hill Stations and the British Raj'']. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996. {{ISBN|0-520-20188-4}}, {{ISBN|978-0520201880}}.
*{{cite journal |last1=Reed |first1=Robert R. |title=The Colonial Genesis of Hill Stations: The Genting Exception |journal=[[Geographical Review]] |date=1979 |volume=69 |issue=4 |pages=463-468 |doi=10.2307/214809}}


== External links ==
== External links ==

Revision as of 16:26, 15 June 2025

Shimla, a city founded as a hill station. The city's urban planning and architecture, as seen here on the south side of the Ridge, were designed to foster a European experience for homesick colonial officials and executives.

A hill station is a touristic town located at a higher elevation than the nearby plain or valley. The English term was originally used mostly in colonial Asia, but also in Africa (albeit rarely), for towns founded by European colonialists as refuges from the summer heat as historian Dane Kennedy observes about the Indian context, "the hill station (...) was seen as an exclusive British preserve: here it was possible to render the Indian into an outsider".[1][2] The term is still used in present day, particularly in India, which has the largest number of hill stations, most are situated at an altitude of approximately 1,000 to 2,500 metres (3,300 to 8,200 ft).

History

In South Asia

Some view Nandi Hills, an 11th-century hill top fortress that was developed by the Ganga dynasty in present-day Karnataka, India, as a precursor to the hill station concept.[3][4] Tipu Sultan (1751–1799) notably used it as a summer retreat.[5]

Hill stations in British India were established for a variety of reasons. One of the first reasons in the early 1800s, was for the place to act as a sanitorium for the ailing family members of British officials.[6] After the rebellion of 1857, the British "sought further distance from what they saw as a disease-ridden land by [escaping] to the Himalayas in the north". Other factors included anxieties about the dangers of life in India, among them "fear of degeneration brought on by too long residence in a debilitating land". The hill stations were meant to reproduce the home country, illustrated in Lord Lytton's statement about Ootacamund in the 1870s as having "such beautiful English rain, such delicious English mud."[7] Shimla was officially made the "summer capital of India" in the 1860s and hill stations "served as vital centres of political and military power, especially after the 1857 revolt."[8][9]

As noted by Indian historian Vinay Lal, hill stations in India also served "as spaces for the colonial structuring of a segregational and ontological divide between Indians and Europeans, and as institutional sites of imperial power."[10][11][12][13][14] William Dalrymple wrote that "The viceroy was the spider at the heart of Simla's web: From his chambers in Viceregal Lodge, he pulled the strings of an empire that stretched from Rangoon in the east to Aden in the west."[15] Meanwhile Judith T Kenny observed that "the hill station as a landscape type tied to nineteenth-century discourses of imperialism and climate. Both discourses serve as evidence of a belief in racial difference and, thereby, the imperial hill station reflected and reinforced a framework of meaning that influenced European views of the non-western world in general."[16] The historian of Himalayan cultures Shekhar Pathak speaking about the development of hill stations like Mussoorie noted that "the needs of this (European) elite created colonies in Dehradun of Indians to cater to them."[17] This "exclusive, clean, and secure social space – known as an enclave – for white Europeans ... evolved to become the seats of government and foci of elite social activity", and created racial distinctions which perpetuated British colonial power and oppression as Nandini Bhattacharya notes.[18][19] Dane Kennedy observed that "the hill station, then, was seen as an exclusive British preserve: here it was possible to render the Indian into an outsider".[1]

Kennedy, following Monika Bührlein, identifies three stages in the evolution of hill stations in India: high refuge, high refuge to hill station, and hill station to town. The first settlements started in the 1820s, primarily as sanitoria. In the 1840s and 1850s, there was a wave of new hill stations, with the main impetus being "places to rest and recuperate from the arduous life on the plains". In the second half of the 19th century, there was a period of consolidation with few new hill stations. In the final phase, "hill stations reached their zenith in the late nineteenth century. The political importance of the official stations was underscored by the inauguration of large and costly public-building projects."[8]: 14 

The concept of hill station has been used loosely in India (and more broadly South Asia) since the mid-20th century to qualify any town or settlement in mountainous areas, which attempt to expand its local economy toward tourism, or have been invested by recent mass tourism practices. Kullu and Manali in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, are two example of that misuse of Hill Station or more accurately deviation of its meaning. These two historical settlements existed prior to the British, and haven't been specially frequented by them or even extensively modified or shaped by them. However, the rise of internal domestic tourism in India from the eighties and the subsequent reproduction of Hill Station practice by urban middle-class Indians contributed to the labelling of these two localities as Hill Stations. Munnar, a settlement in the state of Kerala whose economy is primarily based on tea cultivation and processing, as well as plantation agriculture, is another example of a hill town transformed by contemporaneous tourism practices as a hill station.

List of hill stations

Africa

Antsirabe, Madagascar
Ifrane, Morocco.

Americas

[clarification needed][citation needed]

Asia

Bangladesh

Sajek Valley, Rangamati Hill District, Bangladesh, the most popular hill station and summer destination in Bangladesh.

Cambodia

Former residence of King Sisowath Monivong at Phnom Bokor

China

Cyprus

Platres, Cyprus

Hong Kong

India

For a complete list, see List of Indian hill stations and Category:Hill stations in India.

Hundreds of hill stations are located in India. The most popular hill stations in India include:

A summer evening view on the Nainital Lake and town, in the state of Uttarakhand, India. Hill stations are often created or shaped according to European aesthetics. Here, the natural lakes of the Kumaon hills echo the lakes of the Swiss Alps, celebrated at the same time in Western Europe. In Ooty and Kodaikanal, the lack of water bodies has been compensated by the creation of artificial lakes.
Tea plantations in Darjeeling, West Bengal, India
The Stone House at Ooty, the first colonial mansion built in the Nilgiris.

Indonesia

Puncak, West Java, Indonesia

Iraq

Amadiya in northern Iraq.

Israel

Japan

Karuizawa in Nagano, Japan

Jordan

Jabal al-Ashrafiyeh in Amman, Jordan

Malaysia

Main article: List of hill stations in Malaysia
Cameron Highlands, Malaysia.

Myanmar

See also: Category:Hill stations in Myanmar

Nepal

Village of Namche Bazaar in Nepal

Pakistan

Murree, a popular hill station in Pakistan
Main article: List of hill stations in Pakistan
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Punjab
Sindh
Balochistan
Gilgit Baltistan

Philippines

Baguio, Philippines

Sri Lanka

See also: Category:Hill stations in Sri Lanka
Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka

Syria

Bloudan, Syria

Uzbekistan

Vietnam

Da Lat, Vietnam

Oceania

Australia

Mount Macedon, Victoria
Bardon, Queensland
Victoria
South Australia
Queensland
Western Australia
New South Wales

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Kennedy, Dane. The Magic Mountains: Hill Stations and the British Raj. Berkeley: University of California Press, c1996 1996. | http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft396nb1sf/
  2. ^ "Hill Stations: Pinnacles of the Raj". southasia.ucla.edu.
  3. ^ "Plans include beautification of the entire hill station to attract tourists". Outlook India. 26 February 2021.
  4. ^ Muni Nagraj. Āgama Aura Tripiṭaka, Eka Anuśilana: Language and Literature. p. 500.
  5. ^ Myer, H. (1995). India 2001: Reference Encyclopedia. South Asia Publications. p. 37. ISBN 978-0-945921-42-4.
  6. ^ Dane Keith Kennedy (1996). The Magic Mountains: Hill Stations and the British Raj. University of California Press. p. 24. ISBN 978-0-520-20188-0.
  7. ^ Barbara D. Metcalf; Thomas R. Metcalf (2002). A Concise History of India. Cambridge University Press. p. 111. ISBN 978-0-521-63974-3.
  8. ^ a b Kennedy, Dane (1996). The Magic Mountains: Hill Stations and the British Raj. Berkeley: University of California Press. Retrieved 19 August 2014.
  9. ^ Vipin Pubby (1996). Shimla Then and Now. Indus Publishing. pp. 17–34. ISBN 978-81-7387-046-0. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
  10. ^ "'But what about the railways ...?' The myth of Britain's gifts to India". the Guardian. 8 March 2017.
  11. ^ "Racism and stereotypes in colonial India's 'Instagram'". BBC News. 30 September 2018.
  12. ^ "Segregation and the Social Relations of Place, Bombay, 1890–1910". Archived from the original on 31 December 2021.
  13. ^ Das, Shinjini (29 April 2020). "India's initial coronavirus response carried echoes of the colonial era". The Conversation.
  14. ^ Lal, Vinay. "Hill Stations: Pinnacles of the Raj".
  15. ^ Dalrymple, William (26 September 1999). "India's Green and Pleasant Land". The Washington Post. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
  16. ^ Climate, Race, and Imperial Authority: The Symbolic Landscape of the British Hill Station in India | Judith T. Kenny | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-8306.1995.tb01821.x
  17. ^ "How not to develop a hill station". 15 December 2021.
  18. ^ Contagion and Enclaves: Tropical Medicine in Colonial India | Nandini Bhattacharya | https://liverpool.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.5949/UPO9781846317835/upso-9781846318290-chapter-2
  19. ^ Bhattacharya N. (2013). Leisure, economy and colonial urbanism: Darjeeling, 1835–1930. Urban history, 40(3), 442–461. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0963926813000394
  20. ^ a b c d Walters, Trudie; Duncan, Tara (2 October 2017). Second Homes and Leisure: New perspectives on a forgotten relationship. Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge. ISBN 9781317400264.
  21. ^ Bailey, Frederick Marshman (1946). Mission to Tashkent. London: Jonathan Cape. p. 181.

Bibliography

External videos
video icon Booknotes interview with Barbara Crossette on The Great Hill Stations of Asia, August 23, 1998, C-SPAN
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