THIS DAY IN HISTORY

5th December 1950: Sikkim becomes a protectorate of India

• Sikkim is a state in northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Nepal in the west, and West Bengal in the south.
• It is also close to India's Siliguri Corridor near Bangladesh. Sikkim is the least populous and second smallest among the Indian states.
• The Kingdom of Sikkim was founded by the Namgyal dynasty in the 17th century. It was ruled by Buddhist priest-kings known as the Chogyal.
• It became a princely state of British India in 1890.
• In 1814, Sikkim allied with the East India Company in the latter’s campaign against Nepal.
• The Calcutta Convention of 1890 demarcated the border between Sikkim and Tibet and was signed by Viceroy Lord Lansdowne and Qing China’s Imperial Associate Resident in Tibet.
• In 1950, a treaty was signed between Maharaja Tashi Namgyal and India’s then Political Officer in Sikkim Harishwar Dayal.