EnvironmentEast India Company rule
Kodaikanal hill station established
In the Palani Hills, American missionaries from the Madurai Mission founded Kodaikanal as an escape from the summer heat.
Founded in 1845, Kodaikanal offered a retreat in the Palani Hills from the fierce summer heat of the plains and the tropical illnesses that came with it. American missionaries active around Madurai were the first to settle there, and British officials came after them. By the later nineteenth century missionaries and Europeans were spending their summers there as a matter of routine. The settlement grew into one of Tamil Nadu's leading hill stations.
