The Anglo-Bhutanese relationship can be traced back to the days of Warren Hastings. For many years, little was known about this secluded Himalayan country, which stretched along the northern frontiers of Bengal and Assam. The land was inhabited by several thousand Buddhists, governed by a dual authority of the Devaraja and the Dharmaraja, who maintained some form of allegiance to Tibet.
However, the recurring annual raids by the Bhutanese into British territories compelled Warren Hastings to send a small force in 1772 to counter the anti-British sentiment. This antagonism between England and Bhutan was not welcomed by Tibet, whose government sought to support Bhutan. To prevent a Tibeto-Bhutanese alliance, Warren Hastings concluded a treaty with the Devaraja in 1774, allowing the Bhutanese to engage in legitimate trade with Bengal through Rangpur. Despite the establishment of commercial relations, political ties with Bhutan showed no improvement, and boundary disputes remained frequent. A political mission was dispatched to Bhutan in 1815, but it failed to resolve the boundary issues, leaving the old quarrels unchanged.
When Britain annexed Assam under the Treaty of Yandabo in 1826, it gained effective control of the Duars, a stretch of land approximately one hundred miles long from Darjeeling to the Assam border. Yet the threat of Bhutanese raids persisted. In 1837, Lord Auckland sent a mission led by Captain Pemberton to seek relief from the raids, but it proved unsuccessful. To secure peace, Auckland occupied the Assam Duars, agreeing to pay an annual sum of ₹10,000 to the Raja of Bhutan. In response, the Bhutanese government assured Britain it would respect the boundary and cease the raids, but these promises were never fulfilled.
Another attempt at a peaceful resolution came in 1864 when the British sent Ashley Eden on a mission to Bhutan. However, Tongso Ponto, the Governor of Eastern Bhutan, insulted the British envoy. Worse still, the Bhutanese government rejected British proposals and forced Eden, under threat of violence, to sign a humiliating treaty on March 29, 1864. This intransigence led Sir John Lawrence, the Governor-General of India, to declare War on Bhutan in November 1864, a conflict known as the Duar War (or Anglo-Bhutanese War). The British aimed to annex the Bhutanese Duars in Bengal and Assam to prevent further aggression. The war ended in British victory, and Bhutan was forced to accept terms in November 1865 (Treaty of Sinchula). The treaty required Bhutan to relinquish all claims to the Bengal and Assam Duars, pay war reparations, and establish regular trade with British territories.
Although peace was formally established, hostility lingered, and occasional raids from Bhutan continued. The situation was finally resolved by 1897, when relations between Britain and Bhutan improved significantly. The British government recognized the Devaraja as the lawful ruler of Bhutan. Under the new arrangement, the British acknowledged Bhutanese sovereignty over internal affairs, while foreign relations remained under British control.
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