North India · Uttarakhand
Uttarakhand
Sources: wikimedia
About Uttarakhand
- Mountains
Where it is
Uttarakhand is a Himalayan state in northern India, bordering Tibet to the north and Nepal to the east, made up of the Garhwal and Kumaon regions, where the Ganges and Yamuna rise; its winter capital, Dehradun, is also its largest city.
History
Called Devbhumi, the land of the gods, in Hindu tradition, the region was ruled by the Katyuri kings, then by the Chand dynasty in Kumaon and the Parmar kings in Garhwal. Gurkha armies from Nepal occupied it in the late 18th and early 19th centuries until the Anglo-Nepalese War of 1814–1816, after which the British took over. It was part of Uttar Pradesh until it became a separate state in 2000.
People
Hindi is the official language and Sanskrit the second, while Garhwali and Kumaoni are spoken in the hills along with Jaunsari and other languages. Hill villages celebrate seasonal festivals such as Harela and Phool Dei, and many families farm terraced fields and raise livestock.
Known for
- The Char Dham pilgrimage
- Rishikesh and Haridwar on the Ganges
- Jim Corbett National Park
- The Valley of Flowers and Nanda Devi
- Hill stations such as Mussoorie and Nainital
Did you know?
The Chipko movement, in which villagers hugged trees to stop them being felled, began in the Garhwal hills of Uttarakhand in the 1970s.
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