Murree, Pakistan

History

Murree or Marhee also spelt Marhi which means high place, as it was then called, was first identified as a potential hill station by Major James Abbott in 1847. When Abbott arrived at the site he wrote:

"I was probably the first Englishman that had ever set foot upon it... I saw here for the first time the magnificent mass of Mount Maachpoora of which I had heard and dreamed so much, presenting toward the River Jelum a stupendous surface of precipice. Its summit is densely covered with cedar forests and is the resort of Jogies and alchemysts from India, who hold watch there by night expecting, by dint of certain incantations and ceremonies, to discern the spirits which alight as flames of fire upon plants profes-sing alchemical properties."

The town's early development was in 1851 by the president of the Punjab Administrative Board, Sir Henry Lawrence. It was originally established as a sanatorium for British troops garrisoned on the Afghan frontier. Officially, the municipality was created in 1850.

From the History section of Murree on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.