he first to find a refuge in Kumaon and thus become its maiden dwellers were the Kol -an ethnic group of Munda origin. 

Passing through the hazy corridors of pre and proto historic times- the vestiges of which still lie preserved in the forms of painted rock shelters, megaliths, cup-marks etc all over – the Kumaon hills start surfacing as a geographical expression around 6th century AD. Visit Tourist Places