Ootacamund, the Lake, sunset, from the Willow Bund - 1869.
View of Ootacamund, taken by Samuel Bourne in 1869. Popularly known as Ooty, this is the most famous of hill stations in south India. It lies around an artificial lake, in the Nilgiri Hills at a height of 2,267 m. It was once the territory of the indigenous tribal group known as the Todas. In 1818, John Sullivan, the Collector of Coimbatore in Madras Presidency, acquired vast acres of land and set about founding the hill station. Ooty flourished and several crops were introduced here with great success including, tea. With its cool climate, the town developed as a sanatorium and also as the chief resort for Europeans in the South. From 1861, it became the summer headquarters of the Madras government.