Editing History of Bhutan (section)

==Theocratic government, 1616–1907==

===Consolidation and defeat of Tibetan invasions, 1616–51===
[[File:CEM-36-Regno-della-China-2355.jpg|thumb|280px|A 17th-century Italian map showing a large "Kingdom of Barantola or Boutan" bordering on Nepal and [[Tibet]], as well as, surprisingly, [[Yunnan]], [[Sichuan]], and the [[Western Xia|Kingdom of Tanguts]]]]
In the 17th century, a [[dual system of government|theocratic government]] independent of [[Tibet]]an political influence was established, and premodern Bhutan emerged. The theocratic government was founded by an expatriate Drukpa monk, [[Ngawang Namgyal]], who arrived in Bhutan in 1616 seeking freedom from the domination of the Gelugpa subsect led by the [[Dalai Lama]] (Ocean Lama) in Lhasa. After a series of victories over rival subsect leaders and Tibetan invaders, Ngawang Namgyal took the title ''Zhabdrung'' (At Whose Feet One Submits, or, in many Western sources, ''Dharma Raja''), becoming the temporal and spiritual leader of Bhutan. Considered the first great historical figure of Bhutan, he united the leaders of powerful Bhutanese families in a land called Drukyul. He promulgated a code of law and built a network of impregnable forts (''dzong''), a system that helped bring local lords under centralized control and strengthened the country against Tibetan invasions. Many forts were extant in the late 20th century.<ref name=cdti>{{harvnb|Worden|1991|loc="Consolidation and Defeat of Tibetan Invasions, 1616–51" (pp.&nbsp;256–257)}}</ref>

During the first war with Tibet, c. 1627, [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]] [[Jesuits]] [[Estêvão Cacella]] and [[João Cabral]] were the first recorded Europeans to visit Bhutan on their way to Tibet. They met with Ngawang Namgyal, presented him with firearms, [[gunpowder]] and a [[telescope]], and offered him their services in the war against Tibet, but the Zhabdrung declined the offer.<ref name=cdti/> After a stay of nearly eight months Cacella wrote a long letter from the [[Chagri Monastery]] reporting the travel. This is a rare report of the Zhabdrung remaining.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.bhutannica.org/index.php?title=Estevao_Cacella |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110522081607/http://www.bhutannica.org/index.php?title=Estevao_Cacella |url-status=usurped |archive-date=May 22, 2011 |contribution=Stephen Cacella |title=Bhutannica}}.</ref>

Tibetan armies invaded Bhutan around 1629, in 1631, and again in 1639, hoping to throttle Ngawang Namgyal's popularity before it spread too far. In 1634 Ngawang Namgyal defeated [[Karma Tenkyong]]'s army in the [[Battle of Five Lamas]]. The invasions were thwarted, and the Drukpa subsect developed a strong presence in western and central Bhutan, leaving Ngawang Namgyal supreme. In recognition of the power he accrued, goodwill missions were sent to Bhutan from [[Cooch Behar]] in the Duars (present-day northeastern West Bengal), Nepal to the west, and [[Ladakh]] in western Tibet. The ruler of Ladakh even gave a number of villages in his kingdom to Ngawang Namgyal.

Bhutan's troubles were not over, however. In 1643, a joint Mongol-Tibetan force sought to destroy Nyingmapa refugees who had fled to Bhutan, [[Sikkim]], and Nepal. The Mongols had seized control of religious and civil power in Tibet in the 1630s and established [[Gelugpa]] as the state religion. Bhutanese rivals of Ngawang Namgyal encouraged the Mongol intrusion, but the Mongol force was easily defeated in the humid lowlands of southern Bhutan. Another Tibetan invasion in 1647 also failed.<ref name=cdti/>

During [[Ngawang Namgyal]]'s rule, administration comprised a state monastic body with an elected head, the [[Je Khenpo]] (lord abbot), and a theocratic civil government headed by the [[Druk Desi]] (regent of Bhutan, also known as Deb Raja in Western sources). The Druk Desi was either a monk or a member of the [[laity]]—by the 19th century, usually the latter; he was elected for a three-year term, initially by a monastic council and later by the State Council ([[Lhengye Zhungtshog]]). The State Council was a central administrative organ that included regional rulers, the Zhabdrung's chamberlains, and the [[Druk Desi]]. In time, the Druk Desi came under the political control of the State Council's most powerful faction of regional administrators. The Zhabdrung was the head of state and the ultimate authority in religious and civil matters. The seat of government was at [[Thimphu]], the site of a 13th-century dzong, in the spring, summer, and fall. The winter capital was at [[Punakha Dzong]], a [[dzong]] established northeast of Thimphu in 1527. The kingdom was divided into three regions (east, central, and west), each with an appointed [[ponlop]], or governor, holding a seat in a major dzong. Districts were headed by [[dzongpon]], or district officers, who had their headquarters in lesser [[dzong]]. The ponlop were combination tax collectors, judges, military commanders, and procurement agents for the central government. Their major revenues came from the trade between [[Tibet]] and India and from land taxes.<ref name=cdti/>

[[Ngawang Namgyal]]'s regime was bound by a legal code called the [[Tsa Yig]], which described the spiritual and civil regime and provided laws for government administration and for social and moral conduct. The duties and virtues inherent in the Buddhist [[dharma]] (religious law) played a large role in the new legal code, which remained in force until the 1960s.<ref name=cdti/>

===Administrative integration and conflict with Tibet, 1651–1728===
To keep Bhutan from disintegrating, [[Ngawang Namgyal]]'s death in 1651 apparently was kept a carefully guarded secret for fifty-four years. Initially, Ngawang Namgyal was said to have entered into a religious retreat, a situation not unprecedented in Bhutan, Sikkim, or Tibet during that time. During the period of Ngawang Namgyal's supposed retreat, appointments of officials were issued in his name, and food was left in front of his locked door.<ref name=aict>{{harvnb|Worden|1991|loc="Administrative Integration and Conflict with Tibet, 1651–1728" (pp.&nbsp;257–258)}}</ref>

[[Ngawang Namgyal]]'s son and [[stepbrother]], in 1651 and 1680, respectively, succeeded him. They started their reigns as minors under the control of religious and civil regents and rarely exercised authority in their own names. For further continuity, the concept of multiple reincarnation of the first Zhabdrung—in the form of either his body, his speech, or his mind—was invoked by the [[Je Khenpo]] and the [[Druk Desi]], both of whom wanted to retain the power they had accrued through the [[dual system of government]]. The last person recognized as the bodily reincarnation of Ngawang Namgyal died in the mid-18th century, but speech and mind reincarnations, embodied by individuals who acceded to the position of [[Zhabdrung Rinpoche]], were  in the early 1990s. The compulsory admission to monastic life of at least one son from any family having three or more sons was instituted in the late 17th century. In time, however, the State Council became increasingly secular as did the successive Druk Desi, [[ponlop]], and [[dzongpon]], and intense rivalries developed among the ponlop of [[Trongsa Province|Tongsa]] and [[Paro Province|Paro]] and the [[dzongpon]] of [[Punakha Province|Punakha]], [[Thimphu Province|Thimphu]], and [[Wangdue Phodrang Province|Wangdue Phodrang]].<ref name=aict/>

During the first period of succession and further internal consolidation under the Druk Desi government, there was conflict with [[Tibet]] and [[Sikkim]]. Internal opposition to the central government resulted in overtures by the opponents of the Druk Desi to Tibet and Sikkim. In the 1680s, Bhutan invaded Sikkim in pursuit of a rebellious local lord. In 1700, Bhutan again invaded Sikkim, and in 1714 Tibetan forces, aided by [[Mongolia]], invaded Bhutan but were unable to gain control.<ref name=aict/>

====Bhutan exclaves in western Tibet====
During the 17th century Bhutan maintained close relations with [[Ladakh]], and assisted Ladakh in its 1684 war with Tibet. Ladakh had earlier granted Bhutan several [[enclave and exclave|enclaves]] near [[Mount Kailash]] in western Tibet; these were monasteries of the Southern branch of the Drukpa sect and so fell under the authority of the Bhutanese Je Khenpo and the Zhabdrung. These enclaves persisted under Bhutanese control even after the rest of western Tibet came under the control of the Dalai Lama and his Gelugpa sect, until 1959 when the Bhutanese enclaves were seized by the Chinese.<ref>{{harvnb|Rose|1977|pp=70, 80}}</ref> In addition to these outposts in Tibet, Bhutan for a time{{vague|date=June 2023}} held monastic fiefs in Ladakh, [[Zanskar]], and [[Lahul]] (now part of India), as well as in [[Lo Manthang]] and [[Dolpo]] (now part of Nepal).<ref>{{cite book |title=The Raven Crown: The Origins of Buddhist Monarchy in Bhutan |last=Aris |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Aris |publisher=Serindia Publications |location=Chicago |year=2005 |isbn=1-932476-21-0 |page=42 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Bhutan: The Early History of a Himalayan Kingdom |last=Aris |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Aris |publisher=Aris & Phillips Ltd. |location=Warminster, England |year=1979 |isbn=0-85668-082-6 |page=249 }}</ref>

===Civil conflict, 1728–1772===
Though the invaders were unable to take control, the political system remained unstable. Regional rivalries contributed to the gradual disintegration of Bhutan at the time the first British agents arrived.<ref name=cc>{{harvnb|Worden|1991|loc="Civil Conflict, 1728–72" (pp.&nbsp;258–259)}}</ref>

In the early 18th century, Bhutan had successfully developed control over the principality of [[Cooch Behar]]. The [[raja]] of Cooch Behar had sought assistance from Bhutan against the Indian [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]]s in 1730, and Bhutanese political influence was not long in following. By the mid-1760s, Thimphu considered Cooch Behar its dependency, stationing a garrison force there and directing its civil administration. When the [[Druk Desi]] invaded [[Sikkim]] in 1770, Cooch Behari forces joined their Bhutanese counterparts in the offensive. In a succession dispute in [[Cooch Behar]] two years later, however, the Druk Desi's nominee for the throne was opposed by a rival who invited British troops, and, in effect, Cooch Behar became a dependency of the British East India Company.<ref name=cc/>

===British intrusion, 1772–1907===
Under the Cooch Behari agreement with the [[British Empire|British]], a British expeditionary force drove the Bhutanese garrison out of Cooch Behar and invaded Bhutan in 1772–73. The Druk Desi petitioned Lhasa for assistance from the [[Panchen Lama]], who was serving as regent for the youthful Dalai Lama. In correspondence with the British governor general of India, however, the Panchen Lama instead punished the Druk Desi and invoked Tibet's claim of suzerainty over Bhutan.<ref name=bi>{{harvnb|Worden|1991|loc="British Intrusion, 1772–1907" (pp.&nbsp;259–261)}}</ref>

Failing to receive help from Tibet, the Druk Desi signed a Treaty of Peace with the [[British East India Company]] on 25 April 1774. Bhutan agreed to return to its pre-1730 boundaries, paid a symbolic tribute of five horses to Britain, and, among other concessions, allowed the British to harvest timber in Bhutan. Subsequent missions to Bhutan were made by the British in 1776, 1777, and 1783, and commerce was opened between British India and Bhutan, and, for a short time, Tibet. In 1784, the British turned over to Bhutanese control Bengal Duars territory, where boundaries were poorly defined. As in its other foreign territories, Bhutan left administration of the Bengal [[Duars]] territory to local officials and collected its revenues. Although major trade and political relations failed to develop between Bhutan and Britain, the British had replaced the Tibetans as the major external threat.<ref name=bi/>

Boundary disputes plagued Bhutanese–British relations. To reconcile their differences, Bhutan sent an emissary to [[Calcutta]] in 1787, and the British sent missions to [[Thimphu]] in 1815 and 1838. The 1815 mission was inconclusive. The 1838 mission offered a treaty providing for extradition of Bhutanese officials responsible for incursions into [[Assam]], free and unrestricted commerce between India and Bhutan, and settlement of Bhutan's debt to the British. In an attempt to protect its independence, Bhutan rejected the British offer. Despite increasing internal disorder, Bhutan had maintained its control over a portion of the Assam Duars more or less since its reduction of Cooch Behar to a dependency in the 1760s. After the British gained control of [[Lower Assam]] in 1826, tension between the countries began to rise as Britain exerted its strength. Bhutanese payments of annual tribute to the British for the Assam Duars gradually fell into arrears. British demands for payment led to military incursions into Bhutan in 1834 and 1835, resulting in defeat for Bhutan's forces and a temporary loss of territory.<ref name=bi/>

The British proceeded in 1841 to annex the formerly Bhutanese-controlled Assam Duars, paying a compensation of 10,000 [[rupee]]s a year to Bhutan. In 1842, Bhutan gave to the British control of some of the troublesome Bengal Duars territory it had administered since 1784.<ref name=bi/>

Charges and countercharges of border incursions and protection of fugitives led to an unsuccessful Bhutanese mission to Calcutta in 1852. Among other demands, the mission sought increased compensation for its former Duars territories; instead the British deducted nearly 3,000 rupees from the annual compensation and demanded an apology for alleged plundering of British-protected lands by members of the mission. Following more incidents and the prospect of an anti-Bhutan rebellion in the Bengal Duars, British troops deployed to the frontier in the mid-1850s. The [[Sepoy Rebellion]] in India in 1857-58 and the demise of the British East India Company's rule prevented immediate British action. Bhutanese armed forces raided Sikkim and Cooch Behar in 1862, seizing people, property, and money. The British responded by withholding all compensation payments and demanding release of all captives and return of stolen property. Demands to the Druk Desi went unheeded, as he was alleged to be unaware of his frontier officials' actions against Sikkim and Cooch Behar.<ref name=bi/>

Britain sent a peace mission to Bhutan in early 1864, in the wake of the recent conclusion of a civil war there. The [[dzongpon]] of [[Punakha Province|Punakha]]—who had emerged victorious—had broken with the central government and set up a rival [[Druk Desi]], while the legitimate Druk Desi sought the protection of the ponlop of Paro and was later deposed. The British mission dealt alternately with the rival [[penlop]] of [[Paro Province|Paro]] and the [[Penlop of Trongsa]] (the latter acting on behalf of the Druk Desi), but Bhutan rejected the peace and [[friendship treaty]] it offered. Britain declared war in November 1864. Bhutan had no regular army, and what forces existed were composed of dzong guards armed with matchlocks, bows and arrows, swords, knives, and catapults. Some of these dzong guards, carrying shields and wearing chainmail armor, engaged the well-equipped British forces.<ref name=bi/>

The [[Duar War]] (1864–65) lasted only five months and, despite some battlefield victories by Bhutanese forces, resulted in Bhutan's defeat, loss of part of its sovereign territory, and forced cession of formerly occupied territories. Under the terms of the [[Treaty of Sinchula]], signed on 11 November 1865, Bhutan ceded territories in the Assam Duars and Bengal Duars, as well as the eighty-three-square-kilometer territory of [[Dewangiri]] in southeastern Bhutan, in return for an annual subsidy of 50,000 [[rupee]]s.<ref name=bi/> The land that was to become [[Bhutan House]] was ceded from [[Bhutan]] to [[British India]] in 1865 at the conclusion the [[Duar War]] and as a condition of the [[Treaty of Sinchula]].<ref name=Syamukapu>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hbgVAQAAMAAJ |title=Syamukapu: The Lhasa Newars of Kalimpong and Kathmandu |first=Deb Shova Kansakar |last=Hilker |publisher=Vajra Publications |year=2005 |isbn=99946-644-6-8 |access-date=2011-08-12}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eONIAQAAIAAJ |title=Arts of Asia |volume=17 |publisher=Arts of Asia Publications |year=1987 |page=107 |access-date=2011-08-12}}</ref>

In the 1870s and 1880s, renewed competition among regional rivals—primarily the pro-British [[Penlop of Trongsa]] and the anti-British, pro-Tibetan ponlop of Paro—resulted in the ascendancy of [[Ugyen Wangchuck]], the Penlop of Trongsa. From his power base in central Bhutan, Ugyen Wangchuck had defeated his political enemies and united the country following several civil wars and rebellions in 1882–85. His victory came at a time of crisis for the central government, however. British power was becoming more extensive to the south, and in the west Tibet had violated its border with Sikkim, incurring British disfavor. After 1,000 years of close ties with Tibet, Bhutan faced the threat of British military power and was forced to make serious geopolitical decisions. The British, seeking to offset potential Russian advances in Lhasa, wanted to open trade relations with Tibet. [[Ugyen Wangchuck]], on the advice of his closest adviser [[Ugyen Dorji]], saw the opportunity to assist the British and in 1903-4 volunteered to accompany a British mission to Lhasa as a mediator. For his services in securing the [[Anglo-Tibetan Convention]] of 1904, Ugyen Wangchuck was knighted and thereafter continued to accrue greater power in Bhutan.<ref name=bi/> [[Ugyen Dorji]], as well as his [[Dorji family|descendants]], went on to maintain British favor on behalf of the government from [[Bhutan House]] in [[Kalimpong]], India.