Uttarakhand The combined region of Kumaon and Garhwal has been known as Uttarakhand since the time of the Puranas, the ancient Hindu scriptures. To confute the primacy of Garhwal, British surveyors, instead of referring to the combined terrain as Uttarakhand Himalayas, wilfully and unscientifically introduced the misnomer "Kumaon Himalaya", on the flimsy pretext that the British included in it a part of Garhwal.

Garhwal and Kumaon compared to Switzerland. (Download Realplayer)

Nanda Devi, from Auli Credit: Karamjeet Singh

Later on, the Gurkha regime controlled Garhwal. The British East India Company, after ridding Uttarakhand of this regime, allowed the Maharaja of Garhwal to rule over one part of Garhwal -- Tehri Garhwal -- while another part, namely Pauri Garhwal, remained British.

Bill Aitken, in his book "The Nanda Devi Affair", writes, "...To Hindu hillmen "Kumaon Himalaya" instead of Uttarakhand was a gratuitous insult and to students of geography, it became a baffling riddle that gave rise to hilarious assumptions totally at variance with ground realities. The worst victims were mountaineers in transit who, ignorant of the Wars of Roses situation that holds between Kumaonis and Garhwalis, failed to understand that this usage to a Garhwali is like describing Lancashire as part of Greater Yorkshire or Harvard as an outpost of Yale..."

The hill districts of Garhwal and Kumaon, like those of Nepal, were backward, lacking good roads and communication systems till 1962. But the Indo-Chinese conflict in 1962 awakened the Indian government, which prioritized the development of the remote hilly areas by establishing communication networks and roads. As a result, within 20 years there was a well-spread out network of roads all over the Indian HImalayas, making access to the mountains easier.