Kotgarh is a village and a sub-tehsil in

Kumarsain Kumarsain (; ), also known as Kumharsain, is a sub-division, a tehsil and a village in Shimla District in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. Formerly under the British Raj, it was the capital of princely state of Kumharsain, which was one o ...

subdivision of

Shimla district Shimla is a district in the state of Himachal Pradesh in northern India. Its headquarters is the state capital of Shimla. Neighbouring districts are Mandi and Kullu in the north, Kinnaur in the east, Uttarakhand in the southeast, Solan to the ...

in the

Indian state India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, with a total of 36 entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into districts and smaller administrative divisions. History Pre-indepen ...

Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; ; "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen mountain states and is characterized by an extreme landscape featuring several peaks ...

. Formerly under the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was him ...

, it was the capital of Kotkhai-Kotgarh princely state, which was later shifted to Kiari in Kotkhai. Kotgarh was incorporated into

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

in 1815 and later to

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

in 1947. It was in this village, where

Satyanand Stokes Satyananda Stokes (born Samuel Evans Stokes, Jr., 16 August 1882 – 14 May 1946) was an American who settled in India and participated in the Indian Independence Movement. He is best remembered today for having introduced apple cultivation to t ...

planted first American apple tree in India in 1916. Kotgarh is known as the apple bowl of India, due to its high quality of apple and cherry cultivation.

Notables

1) Shri

- Horticulturist who settled and introduced American variety apple cultivation first time in India in Kotgarh. 2) Smt.

Vidya Stokes Vidya Stokes (born 8 December 1927) is an active member of Indian National Congress from 1970 and of '' Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee'' since 1974. She was an elected member of Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly in 1974, 1982, 1985, 19 ...

https://himcivils.com/satyanand-stokes-1882-1946/ - Former MLA and cabinet minister of Himachal Pradesh.

References

Villages in Shimla district {{HimachalPradesh-geo-stub