Chamoli, located in Uttarakhand, is a beautiful and
serene hilly town which is known for its shrines and temples. This place
is also very significant because it is the birth place of the 'Chipko
Movement'. It is a part of the Pauri district of Pauri Garhwal since the
year 1960. Chamoli is also known as the land of forts and the present
day Garhwal was earlier known as Kedar Khand. Chamoli is surrounded by
Tibet to the north and by the districts of Pithoragarh and Bageshwar to
the east, Almora to the south, Garhwal to the south-west, Rudraprayag to
the west and Uttarkashi to the north-west. Gopeshwar is the
administrative headquarters of the district.
Kedar Khand, according to the mythology was said to be the abode of God
and it is also believed that the ancient scriptures Ramayana and
Mahabharata were written at Kedar Khand. Some historians also believe
that Chamoli is the place where the Arya race originated. In the
beginning, the British rulers kept this area under Dehradun and
Saharanpur.
Later on the Britishers went on and established a new district in this
area and called it Pauri. Chamoli was earlier a tehsil of the same name
.On 24th February 1960 it was upgraded to a new district. In October
1997 two complete tehsil and two other blocks were merged into a new
formed district, known as Rudarprayag.
