SIKKIM early 19th century

It would be hard to believe that the most peaceful region of India would have been a bloody battleground once and there were treaties and territorial disputes in these hilly kingdoms. The kingdoms of Tibet, Bhutan, Sikkim and Nepal had constant skirmishes withing themselves and with the East India Company in the later part of the 19th century. But this map here is of 1800s, when certain territories were still not resolved.

The hill station of Darjeeling (originally spelled as Dorjeling or Darjiling) was once part of Nepal and then later Sikkim before it was finally annexed by the East India Company in Bengal Presidency. Prior to 1835, the Darjiling Hills region (which would be the western part of today's Darjeeling district) was part of the Kingdom of Sikhim or Sikkim while the eastern part (or the Kalimpong area) - the Daling Hills - was controlled by Bhutan. The Bhutanese territories expanded as far as Koch Bihar and it would lose some regions (also known the Duars or Dooars) including Daling Hills to the EIC after the Anglo-Bhutan war of 1865-66.

But the history of Darjiling as part of Sikkim has another back story. Darjiling, along with Sikkim was annexed by Nepal (or Gorkha as mentioned on some old maps) in 1780 after the latter attacked the former. This was the time when Nepal was extended from as far as Sirmur (or Sirmaur, Himachal Pradesh) covering the entire Uttarakhand to Sikkim in the east. The Anglo-Nepalese War of 1814-16 forced Nepal to lose several of its territories and thus the present map was carved out. The remaining territories (including Darjiling and Sikhim) was given back to the East India Company. The English protected the sovereignty of Sikkim and restored Darjiling back to them promising a long-sighted protection. Sikkim became a buffer state between Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet.

But since Nepal had tasted defeat, it couldn't resist for long. Constant skirmishes and disputes kept occurring with respect to Darjiling and finally the English had to intervene again. It was 1835 when Sikkim finally decided to carve out Darjiling to EIC, thus ending the century long dispute.

Kalimpong acceded in Bengal from Bhutan in 1865, thus giving the present map of Sikkim. Over the time Darjiling became a trade center for the British and also served as a sanitarium. Trade between Darjiling, Sikkim and Tibet flourished and with British interference, it became a British protectorate in 1890. It's noteworthy that Sikkim was not a Princely State since it was ethnically and culturally different from the mainland country (although this was a claim by the Indian government but not the Chogyal or the King of Sikkim). The Indian government's claim was based on the fact that Sikkim was present in the 1922 Chamber of Princes meeting - a meeting held by the Princely States of India to discuss matters and issues.

Soon after India's independence in 1947, it was proposed to annex Sikkim as well but a popular referendum rejected this proposal. Hence in 1950, Sikkim became an Indian protectorate and fresh elections were held in 1973 to discuss a possibility of Sikkim's inclusion in the newly independent India. Although its popularly known as Sikkim acceded to India in 1975 as the 22nd state, but this procedure was highly controversial. It was said that the Indian government pressurized and forced its merger agreement to the Chogyal without giving enough time to decide. Finally, on 10th April 1975 the Chogyal was abolished and Sikkim was taken as a full-fledged Indian state.

The map here is a 19th century map of Sikkim before any of the above tensions arose. It's quite a trick to find a single authentic map of old Sikkim, hence a combination of various maps have been taken as reference here.