Nagarhole was ruled by the Lingayat kings of Kodagu and their feudatories until the British colonial administration established hegemony in the 1850s,
soon after the defeat of Tipu Sultan of Mysore. The
presence of derelict irrigation tanks suggests that there were agricultural enclaves within the forested landscape. While the
Lingayat kings maintained nominal control, the forests were considered common property and swidden agriculture (slash and burn technique) and collection
of forest produce by the tribes residing within the forested landscape was widespread.
The Kakankote forest in Mysore became a favored staging ground for the Khedda - a method
of capturing wild elephants wherein a whole herd would be beaten and driven into a stockade by skilled mahouts mounted on domesticated
elephants
The colonial administration established the Forest Department in 1860 with a mandate to restrict forest burning, control swidden agriculture, prevent
agricultural encroachments, carry out sustainable harvest of timber and to raise teak plantations. From the 1890s, the forests were gradually demarcated and
notified as government owned reserved forests.
After Indian independence, the Govt. of India laid great emphasis on the production of food and the harvesting of timber, which led to the importation and
settlement of tribal and non- tribal groups into the hadlus or swampy clearings, to provide cheap labour for forestry operations and for the cultivation
of rice. In 1955, a 285 sq km area was gazetted as the Nagarhole Game Sanctuary. The same was extended in 1974 with some reserved forests from the Mysore district
being added to bring the total area to the present 644 sq km. This was also accorded the status of a National Park in 1974.
In 1999/2000, the Nagarhole National Park became part of 'Project Tiger',
a successful wildlife conservation initiative for the fast disappearing Royal Bengal Tiger.
