Following the beginning of British rule in India, Sikkim allied with Britain against their common adversary, Nepal. However, ties between Sikkim and the British weakened when the British began taxation of the Morang region.
In 1849, two British physicians, Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker and Dr. Archibald Campbell, the latter overseeing relations between the British and Sikkimese governments, ventured into the mountains of Sikkim unannounced and unauthorized.
The doctors were detained by the Sikkimese government, leading to a punitive British expedition against the kingdom, after which the Darjeeling district and Morang were annexed to British India in 1853. The Chogyal of Sikkim became a titular ruler under the directive of the British governor as a result of the invasion.
Sikkim became a British protectorate in the later decades of the 19th century. Sikkim was gradually granted more sovereignty over the next three decades and became a member of the Chamber of Princes, the assembly representing the rulers of the Indian princely states, in 1922.
Comments
Post a Comment