1772-1910 History of Bhutan Since 1968





Bhutan 1910-1968



In 1910, Britain and Bhutan signed a treaty according to which Britain took over foreign representation of Bhutan, but agreed not to interfere in Bhutanese affairs. A protectorate treaty of the looser kind; British military protection was not necessary, as the Himalaya mountains provided that; it was not a case of indirect rule either.
In 1949 India signed a treaty with Bhutan; India in effect took over the position Britain had held before.
In 1952 JIGME DORJI WANGCHUK was crowned king. He introduced a number of reforms, among them the creation of a NATIONAL ASSEMBLY (the TSHONGDU, in 1953), the abolition of slavery (1958) and a land reform. The TIBETAN REBELLION of 1959 and the SINO-INDIAN BORDER WAR of 1960-1962 had an impact on the remote mountain kingdom, as Tibetan refugees requested asylum in 1959, which was granted. India then presented a road into Bhutan, from Puntsholing to capital Thimphu, the first in the country; paid for by India, the road was to facilitate the transport of Indian troops in case of a Chinese attack. The road overcame the century-old isolation of the Himalaya kingdom.
In 1965 an attempt to assassinate the king failed; the prime minister fell victim to an assassin in 1964.





EXTERNAL
FILES 		Library of Congress, Country Studies : Bhutan
Timeline : Bhutan, from BBC News
DOCUMENTS Article Bhutan, in : Imperial Gazetteer of India (1908-1931), posted by DSAL
Treaty of Perpetual Peace and Friendship between India and Bhutan, August 8 1949, from India Bilateral Treaties
Agreement on Postal Exchange between India and Bhutan, Sept. 11 1962, from India Bilateral Treaties
Postal Agreement betwen India and Bhutan, April 21 1967, from India Bilateral Treaties
Agreement on the Exchange of Money Orders between India and Bhutan, April 21 1967, from India Bilateral Treaties
REFERENCE Hübner's Weltstatistik, 73rd edition, edited by Ernst Rösner, Wien 1939
Article : Bhutan, in : Britannica Book of the Year 1950 p.111, 1951 p.108, 1952 pp.103-104, 1953 p.104, 1954 p.102, 1955 p.164, 1956 p.103, 1957 p.162, 1958 p.101, 1959 pp.104-105, 1960 p.104, 1961 p.105, 1962 p.92, 1963 p.207 [G]
Article : Protected States, Condominiums and Trust Territories : Bhutan, in : Britannica Book of the Year 1966 pp.636-638, 1967 p.651, 1968 pp.649-650 [G]
Article : Bhutan, in : Statesman's Yearbook 1918 pp.706-708, 1919 pp.703-704, 1924 pp.697-699, 1925 pp.708-709, 1926 pp.686-688, 1928 pp.695-696, 1929 pp.689-690, 1932 pp.694-695, 1937 pp.728-729, 1943 pp.731-732 [G]
Article : Bhutan, in : Americana Annual 1927 p.102, 1928 p.91, 1930 p.107, 1931 p.105, 1932 p.104, 1933 p.95, 1934 p.107, 1935 p.96, 1936 p.87, 1937 p.75, 1938 p.78, 1939 p.85, 1940 pp.40-41, 1943 p.100, 1944 p.92, 1945 p.93, 1946 p.100, 1947 pp.78-79, 1957 pp.88-89, 1962 pp.78-79, 1963 p.90, 1964 p.91 [G]



This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted on May 20th 2002, last revised on September 15th 2008

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