Global Encounters, Local Places: Connected Histories of Darjeeling, Kalimpong, and the Himalayas—An Introduction

Abstract

Darjeeling and Kalimpong, British imperial towns in the eastern Himalayan borderlands at the juncture of Bhutan, China, India, Nepal, Sikkim, and Tibet, played a vital yet under-studied role as transcultural hubs of a hybrid modernity. This themed section explores “connected histories,” paying particular attention to these Himalayan towns as a modern crossroads for empires, ethnicities, religions, and cultural and economic mobilities. It offers alternative approaches that connect and intersect the history of local places and spaces with broader narratives of global history. Contributors draw upon a range of perspectives to frame their historical explorations of Darjeeling, Kalimpong, and the eastern Himalayas in terms of local, regional, and global circulation, transnational connections, and transcultural encounters.

Keywords

• himalayas
• modernity
• empire
• borderlands
• connected histories
• transcultural encounters
• darjeeling
• kalimpong