Rudrapur

Rudrapur lies in the Terai lowlands south of the Kumaon hills, a country once covered by forests and marshes. Rudra Chand of Kumaon founded the town in the sixteenth century as the seat of his governor in the southern Terai. It connected the Chand rulers' mountain kingdom with its possessions on the plain.

In 1744 a Kumaoni army suffered a heavy defeat here against the Rohillas of the neighbouring plains. King Deep Chand later built a fort at Rudrapur to watch them. Towards the end of the century Nand Ram, governor of Kashipur, killed Rudrapur's governor and claimed control of the lowlands. After the fall of Almora, Rudrapur passed to the Nawab of Awadh and was occupied by the British in 1801.