Bhutan - Lindsay Brown [18]
In the next few years two small expeditions travelled to Bhutan. Dr Alexander Hamilton led a group to Punakha and Thimphu in 1776, and another in 1777, to discuss Bhutanese claims to Ambari Falakati and to consolidate transit rights through Bhutan to Tibet that had been negotiated by Bogle’s mission.
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THE PROBLEM OF THE DUARS
The political intrigue and civil wars continued in Bhutan, and there were numerous skirmishes over boundaries and trading rights. The British were engaged in the Burmese war of 1825–26. As a result of this war, the British gained control of Assam, the territory that forms the eastern half of Bhutan’s southern border.
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Lands of the Thunderbolt, Sikhim, Chumbi & Bhutan by the Earl of Ronaldshay is a very readable, very British account of regional history and an expedition to Bhutan in the early 20th century.
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The area of plains between the Brahmaputra River up to and including the lowest of the hills of Bhutan was known as the duars, which means doors or gates (Click here). The western part of this area, known as the Bengal Duars, had been annexed by the third desi, Mingyur Tenpa, in the late 17th century and the Bhutanese considered it their territory. The eastern part, the Assam Duars, had long been administered in a complex rental agreement between Bhutan and Assam.
After the Burmese war, the British took over the peculiar land rental arrangement for the Assam Duars, along with what were described as ‘very unsatisfactory relations of the Assamese with the Bhutanese’. Major disagreements between Britain and Bhutan resulted. In 1826 the British and Bhutanese came into conflict over the ownership of the duars. Other than the area’s strategic importance, the British were attracted to the duars because they were excellent tea-growing country. However, they were also a malarial jungle, and the British had a very difficult time keeping their troops healthy.
Bhutan’s existing agreement with the Assamese allowed the British to occupy the region from July to November, and the Bhutanese to occupy it the remainder of the year in return for payment in horses, gold, knives, blankets, musk and other articles. The new arrangement meant that Bhutan sent the payment to the British, who accused the Bhutanese of delivering piebald horses and other defective goods. The Bhutanese insisted that middlemen working for the British had substituted inferior goods.
Disagreements over payments and administration escalated. In 1836 the British mounted an attack on Dewangiri (now Deothang), in the east, to force the surrender of fugitives who had committed crimes in British territory. The dzongpen refused to comply and attacked the British detachment. The British won that battle and annexed Dewangiri and the entire Banska Duar. The following year, however, at the request of the desi, they agreed to return control of the duar to the Bhutanese.
The British annexed the two easternmost duars in 1840 and the rest of the Assam Duars in September 1841, agreeing to pay Bhutan an annual compensation of Rs10,000. Lord Auckland wrote to the deb and dharma rajas that the British were:
…compelled by an imperative sense of duty to occupy the whole of the duars without any reference to your Highnesses’ wishes, as I feel assured that it is the only course which is likely to hold out a prospect of restoring peace and prosperity to that tract of country.
Perhaps more revealing is a letter from Colonel Jenkins, the governor-general’s agent, outlining the need for taking over the Assam Duars. He wrote:
Had we possession of the Dooars, the Bhootan Government would necessarily in a short time become entirely dependent upon us, as holding in our hands the source of all their subsistence.
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