History of Shillong
History of Shillong is also very interesting and exciting. The city has gone through great ancient history. Till 1864, Shillong was not a very big or well-developed place. Under one treaty after 1864, it was granted a title of new civil station of both the hills – Khasi and Jaintia hills. This hill station was the core part of the former British regional state of Assam and continues to be capital for long time after Independence also. Shillong also remained for many years as the summer capital of Assam and Eastern Bengal.
But unfortunately, the beautiful city was completely destroyed because of gigantic earthquake in 1897. After restoration, when the Meghalaya declared as a separate state in January 1972, Shillong served as a capital city and since then, it is one of the wonderful capital cities of India.
According to one famous legend, Shillong got its name from the famous peak of this hill station “Shillong peak”. But other legend says that, a boy named “Shyllong” took birth from a virgin mother in a village close to Shilling named Bisi. Most of the local people said that he was an incarnation of a Shillong deity. Therefore, this magnificent hill station got its name from this godly boy’s name.
