Hill station

A hill station is a town located at a higher elevation than the nearby plain or valley. The term was used mostly in colonial Asia (particularly in India), but also in Africa (albeit rarely), for towns founded by European colonialists as refuges from the summer heat. In the Indian context, most hill stations are at an altitude of approximately 1,000 to 2,500 metres (3,300 to 8,200 ft); very few are outside this range.

History

British India

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. After the rebellion of 1857, the British “sought further distance from what they saw as a disease-ridden land by 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.” 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.”

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.”  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.”

Dane 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.”^: 14

List of hill stations

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (February 2011)

Most hill stations, listed by region:

Africa

Madagascar

• Antsirabe

Morocco

• Ifrane

Nigeria

• Jos

Uganda

• Fort Portal

Americas

Brazil

• Petropolis
• Campos do Jordão

Costa Rica

• Monteverde

United States

• Beech Mountain
• Sky Valley, Georgia
• Big Bear Lake, California
• Cloudcroft, New Mexico
• Summerhaven, Arizona

Asia

Bangladesh

• Sajek Valley
• Bandarban
• Jaflong
• Khagrachari
• Moulvibazar
• Rangamati
• Sreemangal

Cambodia

• Bokor Hill Station

China

• Guling
• Mount Mogan
• Mount Jigong
• Kuliang
• Beidaihe

Cyprus

• Platres

Hong Kong

• Victoria Peak

India

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

Indonesia

Iraq

• Shaqlawa
• Amedi
• Rawanduz
• Sulaymaniyah
• Batifa

Israel

• Metula
• Safed

Japan

• Hakone
• Karuizawa
• Nikkō
• Lake Chūzenji

Jordan

• A few suburbs in Amman

Malaysia

Myanmar

• Kalaw
• Pyin Oo Lwin
• Taunggyi
• Thandaung

Nepal

Pakistan

Philippines

• Baguio
• Salvador Benedicto
• Mambukal
• Tagaytay
• Sagada

Sri Lanka

• Nuwara Eliya

Syria

• Bloudan
• Masyaf
• Qadmous
• Zabadani
• Madaya

Vietnam

• Da Lat
• Sa Pa
• Tam Đảo
• Bà Nà Hills
• Bạch Mã National Park

Europe

Czech Republic

• Brno

Oceania

Australia

Victoria

• Mount Macedon
• Harrietville

South Australia

• Mount Gambier
• Adelaide Hills

Queensland

• Toowoomba
• Merewether
• The Gap
• Chapel Hill
• Bardon
• Ferny Grove
• Buderim
• New Auckland
• Mount Archer

Western Australia

• Lesmurdie
• Kalamunda
• Jarrahdale
• Bedfordale

New South Wales

• Blue Mountains
• Mount Pleasant
• Thirroul
• Woonoona
• Stanwell Tops
• Otford
• Copacabana
• Kariong