 Map of The Nilgiris district The Nilgiris or Blue Mountains, often called The Queen of Hills are a range of mountains and a district in the south-Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The highest point is the mountain of Dodda Betta (also written Doddabetta), with a height of 2637m. This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ...
This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ...
India is subdivided into twenty-eight states, six union territories and the National Capital Territory. ...
Tamil Nadu (தமிழ் நாடு, Land of the Tamils) is a state at the southern tip of India. ...
Kerala (IPA: ; Malayalam: േകരളം — Keralam) is a state on the southwestern tropical Malabar Coast coast of India. ...
Tea is grown at elevations of 1,000 to above 2,500 metres. The area also produces eucalyptus oil and temperate zone vegetables. Parts of many Indian movies are filmed in the Nilgiris. Image File history File links Nilgiri-Hills. ...
Image File history File links Nilgiri-Hills. ...
Categories: Tea | Stub ...
Species About 600; for a full list, see Wikispecies:Eucalyptus Eucalyptus is a diverse genus of trees (rarely shrubs), the members of which dominate the tree flora of Australia. ...
The altitude of the Nilgiris results in a much cooler wetter climate than the surrounding plains, and so the area is popular as a retreat from the summer heat. The rolling hills of the Downs look very similar to the Downs in Southern England, and were used for similar activities such as hunting. Royal motto (French): Dieu et mon droit (Translated: God and my right) Englands location within the British Isles Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area – Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population – Total (mid-2004) – Total (2001 Census) – Density Ranked 1st UK...
The principal town of the area is Udhagamandalam, although the old British name of Ootacamund, shortened to Ooty, is often used. In the town there are many buildings which look very "British", in particular the Churches. There is even a road junction known as Charing Cross. This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...
The other main towns in the Nilgiris are Coonoor and Kotagiri. Coonoor is a small quiet hill town in the Nilgiri hills. ...
Kotagiri is a serene town in the Nilgiris Hills, 33 km away from Mettupalayam, in Tamil Nadu, India. ...
There are several tribes living in the Nilgiris, whose origins are uncertain. The best known of these are the Toda people, whose culture is based upon cattle, and whose red, black and white embroidered shawls, and silver jewelry is much sought after. The Toda (Tudavar) people are a tribe living in the Nilgiri Mountains of Tamil Nadu in southern India. ...
Binomial name Bos taurus Linnaeus, 1758 Cattle (called cows in vernacular usage) are domesticated ungulates, a member of the subfamily Bovinae of the family Bovidae. ...
Hesquiat woman keeping warm with a thick shawl A shawl is an extremely simple item of clothing, loosely worn over the shoulders, upper body and arms, sometimes also over the head. ...
Jewelry (the American spelling; spelled jewellery in Commonwealth English) consists of ornamental devices worn by persons, typically made with gems and precious metals. ...
There is a railway running from Mettupalayam to Udhagamandalam via Coonoor, which is a great tourist attraction. It was used in the film A Passage to India as the railway to the caves. It is a rack-and-pinion railway as far as Coonoor. A Passage to India (1924) is a novel by E. M. Forster about the tensions between natives of India and British colonials when a white woman, Adela Quested, accuses a native man, Dr. Aziz, of attempted rape. ...
The rack rail on a cog railway. ...
Coonoor is a small quiet hill town in the Nilgiri hills. ...
Two ecoregions cover portions Nilgiris. The South Western Ghats moist deciduous forests lie between 250 and 1000 meters elevation. these moist deciduous forests extend south along the Western Ghats range to the southern tip of India. These forests are dominated by a diverse assemblage of trees, many of whom are deciduous during the winter and spring dry season. These forests are home to the largest herd of Asian Elephants in India, who range from the Nilgiris across to the Eastern Ghats. The Nilgiris and the South Western Ghats is also one of the most important tiger habitats left in India. An ecoregion is a relatively large area of land or water that contains a geographically distinct assemblage of natural communities. ...
The South Western Ghats moist deciduous forests is a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion of southern India. ...
Enlarge this map of South India to see details about Western Ghats Nelliampathi mountains, Kerala A view from Ponmudi The Western Ghats or Sahyadri mountains (as they are known in the state of Maharashtra) run along the western edge of Indias Deccan Plateau, and separate the plateau from a...
Deciduous means temporary or tending to fall off (deriving from the Latin word decidere, to fall off). ...
Binomial name Elephas maximus Linnaeus, 1758 The Asian Elephant, sometimes known as the Indian Elephant (Elephas maximus) is one of the two or three living species of elephant. ...
The Eastern Ghats are a discontinuous range of mountains, eroded and cut through by the four major rivers of southern India, the Godavari, Mahanadi, Krishna, and Kaveri. ...
Tigers (Panthera tigris) are mammals of the Felidae family and one of four big cats in the Panthera genus. ...
The South Western Ghats montane rain forests ecoregion covers the portion of the range above 1000 meters elevation. These evergreen rain forests are among the most diverse on the planet. Above 1500 meters elevation, the evergreen forests begin to give way to stunted forests, called sholas, which are interspersed with open grassland. These grasslands are the home to the endangered Nilgiri tahr, which resembles a stocky goat with curved horns. The Nilgiri tahrs are found only in the montane grasslands of the South Western Ghats, and number only about 2000 individuals. The South Western Ghats montane rain forests are an ecoregion of southern India, covering the southern portion of the Western Ghats range in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, at elevations over 1000 meters. ...
Shola is a type of high-altitude stunted evergreen forest found in southern India. ...
Binomial name Hemitragus hylocrius (Ogilby, 1838) The Nilgiri tahr (Hemitragus hylocrius) is an ungulate native to the Nilgiri Hills and the southern portion of the Western Ghats range in Tamil Nadu and Kerala states of southernmost India. ...
Montane grasslands and shrublands is biome defined by the World Wildlife Fund. ...
Much of the native forest has been cleared for grazing cattle, or for plantations of tea, Eucalyptus and Acacia. Two national parks protect portions of the Nilgiris. Mudumalai National Park lies in the northern part of the range where Kerala, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu meet, and covers an area of 321 sq km. Mukurthi National Park lies in the southwest of the range, in Kerala, and covers an area of 78.5 sq km, which includes intact shola-grassland mosaic, habitat for the Nilgiri tahr. The entire range, together with portions of the Western Ghats to the northwest and southwest, was included in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve in 1986, India's first biosphere reserve. Tea leaves in a teacup. ...
Species About 600; for a full list, see Wikispecies:Eucalyptus Eucalyptus is a diverse genus of trees (rarely shrubs), the members of which dominate the tree flora of Australia. ...
Species About 1,300; see List of Acacia species Acacia is a genus of shrubs and trees of Gondwanian origin belonging to the subfamily Mimosoideae of the Pea Family Fabaceae, first described from Africa by Linnaeus in 1773. ...
Indias first National Park (IUCN Category II Protected area) was Hailey National Park, now Jim Corbett National Park, established in 1935. ...
// Location and geography The Mudumalai sanctuary lies on the northern and north-western side of the Nilgiri (Blue Mountains), about 80 km north-west of Coimbatore in the extreme north-western corner of Tamil Nadu, on the interstate boundaries with Karnataka and Kerala states in southern India. ...
A national park found in the state of Tamil Nadu in India. ...
The Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve is an International Biosphere Reserve located in the Western Ghats and Nilgiri Hills ranges of southern India. ...
1986 (MCMLXXXVI) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
The region has given its name to a number of bird species, including the Nilgiri Pipit, Nilgiri Woodpigeon and Nilgiri Blackbird. Binomial name Columba elphinstonii (Sykes, 1832) The Nilgiri Woodpigeon (Columba elphinstonii) is a bird endemic to moist deciduous forests and sholas of south India. ...
History
The Nilgiri hills have a history going back a good many centuries. It is not known why they were called the Blue Mountains. Several sources cite the reason as the smoky haze enveloping the area, while other sources say it is because of the kurunji flower, which blooms every twelve years giving the slopes a bluish tinge.
It was originally tribal land and was occupied by the Todas around what is now the Ooty area and the Kotas around what is now the Kotagiri area. The Badagas appeared here much later from the Mysore Plateau, the unconfirmed date being 1550. Although the Nilgiri hills are mentioned in the Ramayana of Valmiki (estimated by Western scholars to have been recorded in the second century B.C.E.), they remained all but undiscovered by Europeans until 1602. This was when the first European set foot into the jungles. A Portuguese priest going by the name of Ferreiri resolved to explore the hills and succeeded. He came upon a community of people calling themselves the "Toda." This priest seems to have been the only European to have explored this area. The Europeans in India more or less seem to have ignored the ghats for some two hundred or more years. The Toda people are a small pastoral tribe of Southern India who live only on the Nilgiri hills. ...
Kotas is the name of an aboriginal tribe living in the Nilgiris region of the Indian state of [[Tamil Nadu, in the vicinity of the popular hiss-station of Ooty. ...
The Badagas are a tribe inhabiting the Nilgiri Hills in southern India, by some authorities declared not to be an aboriginal or jungle race. ...
The Ramayana (Sanskrit: march or journey (ayana) of Ram) is part of the Hindu smriti, written by Valmiki. ...
Maharishi Valmiki is the author of the Hindu epic Ramayana. ...
It was only around the beginning of the 1800s that the English unsuccessfully considered surveying this area. Around 1810 or so the East India Company deceided to delve into the jungles here. An Englishman Francis Buchanan made a failed expedition. John Sullivan who was then the Collector of Coimbatore, just south of the Nilgiris, sent two surveyors to make a comprehensive study of the hills. They went as far as the lower level of Ooty, but failed to see the complete valley.The two men were Keys and Macmohan (their first names seem to be lost to the annals of history)and their mission was significant because they were the first Englishmen to set foot in the Nilgiri hills which soon led to the complete opening up of the area. Francis Buchanan-Hamilton (February 15, 1762 - June 15, 1829) was a Scottish physician, zoologist and botanist living in India. ...
The original discovery however,is attributed to J.C.Whish and N.W.Kindersley, working for the Madras Civil Service, who made a journey in 1819 and who reported back to their superiors that they had discovered "the existence of a tableland possessing a European climate."
The first European resident of the hills was John Sullivan, the Collector of Coimbatore, who went up the same year and built himself a home. He also reported to the Madras Government the appropriateness of the climate; Europeans soon started settling down here or using the valley for summer stays. The complete valley became a summer resort. Later on the practice of moving the government to the hills during summer months also started.
By the end of the 19th century, the Nilgiri hills were completely accessible with the laying of roads and the railway line.
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