history of munnar

the history of munnar can be traced to the period of British rule over india. in that period Munnar was developed to cultivate tea plants by british planters. The history of plantation in Munnar started in the 1870s when J.D. Munro, a European, identified the agriculture potential of the land on a hunting expedition. In 1877 he leased 580 Sq Kilometres of land from the Poonjar Raja who was in control of the land .This tract, henceforth called the Kanan Devan Concession Land, was completely undeveloped, largely unexplored, and covered with thick jungle full of wild elephants and tigers.In Conjunction with Munro and H. G. Turner of the Madras Civil Service was founded the North Travancore Land Planting and Agricultural Society, whose members developed their own estates in various parts of the High Ranges.

This first cultivation was undertaken by A. W. Turner near Devikulam lake in 1877. The pioneers tried many crops such as coffee, cinchona, sisal and cardamom before discovering tea, the product best suited to the area.The first tea plant was planted by A. H. Sharp at Parvathi, now in Sevenmullay estate, but then a 20 hectares (50 acres) clearing in an immense jungle. In 1893-95, the concession area was purchased by Muir and Co. which later became James Finlay & Co.In 1897 the Kannan Devan Hills Produce Company was formed to manage Finlay’s estates. this was followed In 1964 by the Tata Group, an Indian corporate giant, entering into a collaborative venture with the Finlay company, leading to the formation of the Tata-Finlay group. finaly subsequently withdrew from the joint venture and TATA Tea bought up all of Finalays shares. In April 2005 tea plantations under the Tata group were transferred to a new company called Kannan Devan Hills Produce Co, Pvt Ltd. Today the KDhp CO lTD manages 16 estates spread over about about 8600 hectares of land.

From 1908 till 1924, tea produced in Munnar was transported to Top Station by a 24 inch railway line and transhipped from there by ropeway to Kotagudi (Bottom Station) and subsequently to Bodinayakanur for shipment across the World. The Top Station to Kotagudi ropeway which was in service from 1900 till 1969 is no longer functional and what remains remains in name only.
just as at earlier times when most of the people around the area of Munnar were employed as laborers on the plantations throughout the year plantation labour continues to be the predominant occupation of the people ; though over the past few years tourism related occupations have slowly gained much in prominence . In the beginning years of the town, only Tamilians and a small number of Malayalis inhabited Munnar. The closest relatively big neighbouring city to Munnar is Adimali which is situated towards the kerala side on the NH49 highway. The local people refer to this place as Adivaaram due to its reduced altitude and hot climate.
The two prominent educational institutes in Munnar are (1) the Govt. Arts & Science College and (2) College of Engineering Munnar undertaken by CCEK. important Hospitals in Munnar are the Tata General Hospital, the Matha Hospital and the Arun Hospital though nearby hospitals like the Johns Clinic in kunchithanny are also preferred medical destinations for the people of munnar.