Darjeeling

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Darjeeling is a hill district in the eastern Himalaya of West Bengal, India, acquired by the East India Company from Sikkim in 1835 and developed as a sanatorium and hill station. Tea planting began experimentally in 1841, when Archibald Campbell, the Superintendent, sowed China-type seed grown on in Kumaon at his residence at about 2,100 metres. The China variety suited the altitude better than the Assam type, and the slow growth at height produces the aromatic character that later made Darjeeling a premium name; by 1866 the district had several dozen gardens. Darjeeling shows the second phase of the transplant: not just moving the plant, but matching variety to terrain.