The history of Kaziranga takes us back to the year 1904 when the Viceroy of India, Lord Curzon along with his wife, Mary Curzon went on an excursion to this region. To their surprise they found no signs of the rhinos. Mary Curzon persuaded her husband to take measures to protect the one-horned rhinoceros whose population was decreasing at an alarming rate. Resultant, in 1905 an area of 232 sq km of Kaziranga was declared a Proposed Reserve Forest. Later in 1908, with an addition of 152 sq km more, Kaziranga was declared a reserve forest.In 1916, it was redesignated as Kaziranga Game Sanctuary and in 1950, it was renamed as Kaziranga Wildlife Sanctuary. It was not until 1968, Kaziranga was designated as a national park when the area was expanded to 430 sq km. Kaziranga National Park was recognized by UNESCO as the World Heritage Site in the year 1985.