History of Kaziranga National Park  The history of Kaziranga National Park in the Golaghat and Nagaon districts of the state of Assam, India, can be traced back to the beginning of the twentieth century, in 1904. It now is a World Heritage Site and hosts two-thirds of the world's Great One-horned Rhinoceroses, tigers, and many other endangered animals. In the early nineteenth century, the area around what is now Kaziranga National Park was not well settled. It was notorious for wild animals, malaria, frequent floods, and unpredictable changes of the course of the Brahmaputra River. Historical records of the forest called Kaziranga date to the seventeenth century. Several local legends relate to the origin of its name, but historians suggest that the name relate to "Karbi", a woman who ruled the region at one time. With the rise of the tea industry in Assam, slowly, the forests in the area were cleared for settlements and tea plantations. The local villagers practiced some slash and burn cultivation, while the British established small permanent colonies for tea cultivation. The history of protection in Kaziranga dates back to the early twentieth century, when Baroness Mary Victoria Leiter Curzon, an American who was the wife of Lord Curzon, the Viceroy of India, first visited the Kaziranga area in 1904. Kaziranga had been renowned for its rhinoceros population, however, during her trips in the region, Baroness Curzon failed to see any rhinoceros, seeing only some hoof marks. It is rumored that the noted Assamese animal tracker, Balaram Hazarika, showed Baroness Curzon around Kaziranga and impressed upon her the urgent need for conservation of the wildlife. Concerned about the dwindling numbers of rhinoceros, she asked her husband to take the necessary action to save the rhinoceros, which he did on 4 November 1904 when he proposed the creation of a reserve in Kaziranga. Thus the Kaziranga Proposed Reserve Forest was created on 57,273.6 acres (232 km²) of land, on 1 June 1905 by notification of the Chief Commissioner of the area. A proposal soon was made to extend the Kaziranga Reserve Forest by including a piece of land to the east of the existing reserve toward the Bokakhat Dhansirimukh road. Local people objected to this as their rights regarding such things as grazing, fishing, collection of cane, thatch, and firewood would be in danger.