This district is named after the town of Pithoragarh. Once the bastion of the Chand rulers, Pithoragarh town has many temples and forts belonging to that era. The town is set in a valley popularly known as Soar and lies in the centre of four hills Chandak, Dhwaj, Kumdar and Thal Kedar, and stretches in the southern flank to Jhulaghat demarcated by the Kali river adjoining the barren peaks of Nepal hills.