Bhutan History

A large part of Bhutan's early history remains obscured as majority of the primitive texts have been burned along with the ancient capital Punakha back in 1827. In the 10th century, however, the country's governance was strongly influenced by religion. Buddhist sects have also thrived and were patronized by Mongol warlords, but during their fall in the 14th century, chaos ran amok and the warlords claimed their rights on their political territories, dividing Bhutan into a patchwork of lands owned by different lords. This brought about the rise of the Drukpa sub-sect in the 16th century. A hundred years' past and the Tibetan lama and military leader Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal, who was fleeing from religious persecution in his homeland, erected a barricade of dzongs (fortresses) and coordinated with the local leaders to form a set of laws for the lands to fall under one centralized government.

Circa 1627 marks the first European contact to Bhutan. Portuguese Jesuit Estêvão Cacella, along with another priest, set foot on the country while on their way to Tibet. They introduced modern armaments and equipment to Ngawal Namgyal and even offered to help him defeat Tibet, but the ruler refused. The priests stayed in Bhutan for eight months, and wrote a letter reporting their travel. Upon Ngawang Namgyal's death in 1651, the whole country became a warzone of lords claiming new lands and defending their own. The Tibetans, the Mongols, and even the Cooch Behar (with the help of the British India Company) capitalized on this chaos and attacked the country several times, but were all thwarted. An armistice was signed but encounters in the British borders continued on for another century, and eventually became the Duar War. Bhutan lost and the Treaty of Sinchula ended all warring ties between the country and British India.

In the 1870's the rival colonies in Paro and Tongsa brought about another civil war, but were all defeated by Ugyen Wangchuck, who eventually became Bhutan's hereditary king in 1907. Another treaty with Britain was signed in 1910 that allowed the European colonizers to "guide" Bhutan until it was ready to be independent. Upon India's independence from the British in 1947, Bhutan signed another treaty whose agreements are similar to that of the 1910. The Wangchuck family continues on with its rule of Bhutan, with its fifth Dragon King, Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck.