Kumaon covers an area of 13,024 square kilometres. Situated in the Himalayan foothills, it is flanked by Himachal Pradesh on the North-West and by Nepal on the East. On its north is Tibet and on its South the plains of Uttar Pradesh. Its rivers are snow fed and perennial. Among the popular rivers are the Kosi, Kali Pindari, Ramganga, Saryu and Gomti.

The people of Kumaon are honest, hardworking and are concerned about their self esteem. Their home is in the beautiful foothills of the Central Himalayas in Uttar Pradesh. Agriculture and trade in timber are their main occupations. They have a rich tradition of folk music and art and a high percentage of literacy.

Origin Of The Kumaonis
The original Kumaoni was Vedic Aryans or Nordic. The speech was Sanskrit. Kumaonis have their own dialect (based on Hindi) with marginal phonetic variations in different regions, but they are equally at home in Hindi.

History Of The Kumaonis
Kumaon covers the districts of Nainital, Almora and Pithoragarh in Uttar Pradesh, which came into being in 1814 AD when the British overcame the Chand Rajas. Legend had it that during the prehistoric era, the Kinners, Kiratas, the Khas and the Vedic Aryans were the rulers of this area. During the 6th century BC they were invaded and conquered by a people about whom very little is known. During the Mauryan period the rulers of this area probably accepted Mauryan sovereignty.

During the Vardhan Empire this area was under its influence. For two centuries after Harshavardhana, the region was ruled by the Tibetans. In the middle ages the Katyur dynasty ruled the area for over a century. Anek Mali, a Nepalese, invaded Kumaon in 1191. Two centuries later the Chand Rajas ruled over the area till they were defeated by the Gurkhas around 1790 and in 1815 the British annexed Kumaon and established themselves in the region.

Society Of The Kumaonis
The social set up of the Kumaonis are still traditional. Marriages are arranged with the consent of the parents and several customs have been assigned to celebrate different ceremonies like the thread ceremony of a boy or to the birth of a male child.

Religion Of The Kumaonis
Kumaonis celebrate all the main Hindu festivals - Holi, Diwali, Janmashtami, Rakshabandhan and Dussehra. There are a number of fairs connected with religious festivals which are celebrated in different parts of the region - Makar Sankranti at Jageshwar, Bageshwar, and Thai; Janmashtami at Devidhura; Nandashtami or Nanda Devi Fair at Almora, Nainital and Pithoragarh and Vrishchik Sankranti at Jauljibi.

The Nanda Devi fair is celebrated only in Kumaon. In Nainital and Almora there are temples dedicated to Nanda (Parvati), the family goddess of the Chand rajas.

Almora is the oldest city of Kumaon. In Dwarahat, which is about 75 kilometres from Almora, there are a number of temples, which were built in the middle ages, as there are in Bageshwar. Baijnath is famous for its temples, which were built about the 12th and 13th centuries and have lifesize statues of many gods.

Kumaon has a high percentage of literacy and a long tradition of learning and education. It has produced gifted and eminent people who were distinguished in many walks of life. The community also played a prominent role in the freedom struggle and produced some notable national leaders.

Many great Indians have been drawn to Kumaon, among them Rabindranath Tagore, M.K. Gandhi, Lajpat Rai, Jawaharlal Nehru and Vivekananda. The American painter, Earl Brewster, made Almora his home; Nixon (Krishna Prem) an Englishman and a convert to Hinduism, lived in an ashram in these hills. Over the years, the number of tourist centres in the Kumaon hills has grown although many beautiful spots are still left unexplored.

Nainital is a lake resort in this district that is at a height of 1925 metres above sea-level. The place was discovered in 1841 by English merchant, Barron, who gave a detailed account of the lake and the surrounding hills in the Agra Akbar. The British Government developed it and made it the government`s summer capital of the then United Provinces.

Ranikhet was developed by the British in 1869 as a cantonment. Almora and Ranikhet command a superb view of the Himalayas. This place`s spirit of gorgeousness is reflected in the Kumaonis community too.