A hill station is a type of hill town, mostly in colonial Asia, but also in colonial Africa, founded by European colonists as a refuge from the summer heat. As historian Dane Kennedy observes about the Indian context, "the hill station (...) was seen as an exclusive British preserve: here it was possible to render the Indian into an outsider". The term is still used in present day, particularly in India, which has the largest number of hill stations; most are situated at an altitude of approximately 1,000 to 2,500 metres.