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Naxalbari

village in West Bengal, India

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMar 23, 2026
Entity authorityQ2572438
Source-derived summary

Naxalbari (Bengali: Nôkśālbāṛi, IPA: [nɔkʃalbaɽi]; also spelled Naksalbari) is a village in the Naxalbari Community Development Block in the Siliguri subdivision of Darjeeling district, in the Indian state of West Bengal. Located in the Terai region near the border with Nepal, it is known as the site of a 1967 peasant uprising that inspired the Naxalite movement in India. The surrounding area is predominantly agricultural, with tea estates, forests and small villages.

History

Naxalbari became famous for being the site of a left-wing poor peasants uprising in 1967, which began with the "land to tiller" slogan, an uprising continuing to this day (see Naxalite).

The Naxalbari uprising was triggered on 25 May 1967 at Bengai Jote village in Naxalbari when the police opened fire on a group of villagers who were demanding their right to the crops at a particular piece of land. The firing killed nine adults and two children, whose identities were not officially recorded.

The CPI (ML) has erected busts of Lenin, Stalin, Mao and Charu Majumder at the site of the 1967 police firing, adjacent to Bengai Jote Primary School. A memorial column lists the names of those killed in the incident, including Dhaneswari Devi, Simaswari Mullick, Nayaneswari Mullick, Surubala Burman, Sonamati Singh, Fulmati Devi, Samsari Saibani, Gaudrau Saibani, Kharsingh Mullick and two children.

Geography

Location

Naxalbari is located at 26.68315°N 88.19961°E / 26.68315; 88.19961. It has an average elevation of 152 metres (501 feet).

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Naxalbari” as village in West Bengal, India. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Naxalbari, village and West.

Editorial reviewMost useful as a place-based finding aid connecting the present description to earlier jurisdictions, maps and built evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1967—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Naxalbari, village and West providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Naxalbari”, the useful work is to connect “village in West Bengal, India” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2572438. Authority coordinates are 26.681, 88.198. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1967.

Critical limits

Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Naxalbari”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Naxalbari primary sources, Naxalbari archive and Naxalbari research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Naxalbari”?
  2. What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
  3. Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Naxalbari” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.