Kingdom of Sikkim

Not to be confused with Sikh Empire.

Kingdom of Sikkim
འབྲས་ལྗོངས། (Sikkimese)
Drenjong
འབྲས་མོ་གཤོངས། (Classical Tibetan)
Dremoshong
ᰕᰚᰬᰯ ᰜᰤᰴ (Lepcha)
Mayel Lyang
1642–1975
Flag
Top: (1967–1975)
Bottom: (1877–1975)
Motto: "Oh, the jewel of creation is in the Lotus"[1]
Anthem: Drenjong Silé Yang Chhagpa Chilo[2]
"Why is Sikkim Blooming So Fresh and Beautiful?"


Location and administrative map of the Kingdom of Sikkim before the annexation of India
Status
  • Protectorate of Tibet of Qing China (until 1890)
    • Bhutanese domination (1680/1700–1792)
    • Nepalese domination (1776–1792)
    • Nepalese-Bhutanese presence (1792–1816)
    • British presence (1816–1890)[3]
  • Protectorate of the British Empire (1890–1947)[4]
  • Protectorate of India (1950–1975)
Capital
Official languagesChöke, Sikkimese
Common languagesLepcha (early period), Dzongkha, Nepali (late period)
Religion
Tibetan Buddhism
Nepali Hinduism[5]
Demonym(s)Drenjop, Sikkimese
GovernmentAbsolute monarchy (until 1973)
Parliamentary constitutional monarchy (1973–1975)[6]
Chogyal 
• 1642–1670 (first)
Phuntsog Namgyal
• 1963–1975 (last)
Palden Thondup Namgyal
LegislatureState Council of Sikkim
History 
• Established
1642
1680
1700
• Nepalese Invasion
1776
• Treaty of Titalia signed
1817
• Darjeeling given to British India
1835
• Palden Thondup Namgyal forced to abdicate
1975
• Merger with India
16 May 1975
CurrencyRupee
ISO 3166 codeSK
Today part ofIndia
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The Kingdom of Sikkim (Classical Tibetan and Sikkimese: འབྲས་ལྗོངས།, Drenjong, Dzongkha: སི་ཀིམ་རྒྱལ་ཁབ།, Sikimr Gyalkhab, officially Dremoshong (Classical Tibetan and Sikkimese: འབྲས་མོ་གཤོངས།) until the 1800s, was a hereditary monarchy in the Eastern Himalayas which existed from 1642 to 16 May 1975, when it was annexed[7][8][9] by India. It was ruled by Chogyals of the Namgyal dynasty.[10]

  1. ^ "Sikkim / Dämojong". Archived from the original on 22 November 2021. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  2. ^ Hiltz, Constructing Sikkimese National Identity 2003, pp. 80–81.
  3. ^ The Encyclopaedia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences ..., Volume 25, page 89.
  4. ^ According to Article II of Convention of Calcutta, Sikkim was a direct protectorate of the British Government, not the British Indian government.
  5. ^ "Nepali speakers of Sikkim reflect on 'foreigners' label".
  6. ^ Sikkim votes to end monarchy & merge with India, nytimes.com. Accessed 11 April 2024.
  7. ^ "16th May 1975: The Kingdom of Sikkim and its Annexation with India". 16 May 2018.
  8. ^ "Did India have a right to annex Sikkim in 1975?". India Today. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  9. ^ Abrahams, Pema (1 June 2023). "The Forgotten Kingdom". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  10. ^ Marathe, Om (20 August 2019). "Explained: Sikkim, from Chogyal rule to Indian state". The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 13 November 2022. Retrieved 13 November 2022.