Nainital
Hill station, 1841–1947
नैनीताल
Today Nainital, Uttarakhand, India. Same place, same name.
Key facts
- Historical name
- Nainital
- Type
- Hill station
- Coordinates
- 29.3919° N, 79.4542° E(seed dataset)
- Governance
- Directly administered
- Record confidence
- High confidence
- Identifiers
- Q773213
Directly administered by the Governor-General of India, and therefore part of British India in the statutory sense of the Interpretation Act 1889, s.18.
Location
Pin placed at the coordinates recorded for this place. Colonial-era boundaries are not drawn.
Description
Kumaun lake hill station and district head-quarters 'with cantonment', which served as the summer capital of the United Provinces.
Historical notes
Founded in 1841 around the lake in the Gagar range; a landslip in 1880 destroyed part of the station and killed 151 people. Colonial spelling Naini Tal.
Administrative history
Administrative parenthood changed over time. Each row states the years it is recorded for, and the source it comes from.
| Years | Relation | Unit | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| from 1901 | Part of | United Provinces of Agra and OudhProvince · Directly administeredSnapshot from the 1901 census and the Imperial Gazetteer of India (1908-31). End of the relationship not established; recorded as open rather than inferred. | High confidencesource |
| from 1901 | Part of | Naini TalDistrict · Directly administeredSnapshot from the 1901 census and the Imperial Gazetteer of India (1908-31). End of the relationship not established; recorded as open rather than inferred. | High confidencesource |
Recorded names
Every documented spelling and transliteration held for this place. The historical name is canonical; modern names redirect to it.
| Name | Script | Type | Years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nainital | Latin | Historical English | — |
| Naini Tal Town | Latin | Alternative spelling | — |
| Nynee Tal | Latin | Alternative spelling | — |
| नैनीताल | Devanagari | Indigenous | — |
Records and references
- Imperial Gazetteer of India
- Imperial Gazetteer of India (1908-31), Vol. XVIII (18), p. 333
Sources
- Database· identityCC0
Wikidata (Q773213), Wikimedia Foundation
Wikidata, CC0 1.0
Retrieved 2026-08-29
- Gazetteer· administrativeLicence unverified
Digital South Asia Library, University of Chicago — the 1908–31 text is public domain, but DSAL's digital presentation states no licence; link-out only
Retrieved 2026-08-29
- Encyclopedia· generalCC BY-SA
Wikipedia: Nainital, Wikimedia Foundation
Wikipedia contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0
Retrieved 2026-08-29
Sources tagged “Licence unverified” are linked to rather than reproduced. Scans and images are only displayed inline where the licence is confirmed permissive.