This is a timeline of Bhutanese history, comprising important legal and territorial changes and political events in Bhutan and its predecessor states.
7th century Year Date Event 627 Tibetan ruler Songtsän Gampo (reigned 627–49) ordered the construction of many Buddhist temples, including two in Bhutan: Jambay Lhakhang at Bumthang in central Bhutan, and Kyichu Lhakhang on the Kyi River in the Paro Valley. The construction of these temples marked the arrival of Buddhism in Bhutan. (to 649)
8th century Year Date Event 747 Buddhist saint Padmasambhava, known as "Guru Rimpoche", comes to Bhutan from India at the invitation of Sindhu Raja of the Kingdom of Bumthang, one of the numerous kingdoms predating modern Bhutan. Padmasambhava converts the king to Buddhism and then continues to Tibet. When he returns to Bhutan at the invitation of Trisong Detsen, he oversees the construction of new monasteries in the Paro Valley and sets up his headquarters in Jakar. According to tradition, Padmasambhava thus founds the Nyingma, or "Red Hat," sect of Vajrayana Buddhism. Padmasambhava plays a great historical and religious role as the national patron saint who revealed the tantras to Bhutan. He returned for a third visit during the reign of Murthi Tsenpo (764–817), son of Trisong Detsen. citing Michael Aris
9th century Year Date Event 807 Alternate date for Padmasambhava's invitation to Bhutan by Sindhu Raja. Naguchhi's sons spread the realm into parts of modern Sikkim and Tibet. 809 Padmasambhava comes again to Bhutan. Around the same time, independent monarchies develop. 824 Tibetan King Ralpacan (reigned 816–836), grandson of Trisong Detsen, goes to war with an Indian people ruler in Bhutan, driving him out. Tibetan troops who remained in Bhutan were called Milog, meaning "those that will not return." The region they settle is referred to as Tshochhen Gyed. Its eight parts or divisions are Wang, Be, Med, Kawang, Chang, Thi, Thim, and Lar. 836 Tibetan King Ralpacan is murdered by agents of his brother Langdarma. Tibetans seek refuge in Bhutan from ensuing political and religious upheaval during the reign of Langdarma (836–842). After Langdarma's assassination in 842, Tibetans continue to flee to western Bhutan, thus creating the homeland of the modern Ngalop people. The centuries that follow, known in Tibet as the Era of Fragmentation, are characterized by their lack of political cohesion. During much of this period, the dominant Bhutanese polity was the Kingdom of Bumthang. 900 In the late 9th century, ethnic Tibetan forces expel Indian people princes from parts of modern Bhutan. Tibetans in this period and location develop the roots of Ngalong culture.
10th century Year Date Event 1000 By the 11th century, Tibetan-Mongol forces occupy the whole of Tibet. More waves of Tibetans seek refuge in Bhutan from religious persecution. Charismatic lamas become the de facto leaders of regions in western Bhutan.
11th century +YearDateEvent1143Before the arrival of Phajo Druggom, the followers of Nyoe Gyalwa Lhanangpa, a disciple of Kyobpa Jigten Sumgon (1143–1217), the founder of the Drikung Kagyud, known as Lhapa had great influence and controlled a large part of western Bhutan.
12th century Year Date Event 1180 Tibetan lama Tsangpa Gyare (1161–1211) founds Ralung Monastery for the Drukpa Lineage of the Kagyu school, named after the thunder dragons (druk) he witnessed on his quest for an appropriate foundation site. With the proliferation of the Drukpa, the druk become synonymous with Bhutan and later its central national symbol.
13th century
14th century Year Date Event 1360 Gelug monks flee to Bhutan from Tibet.
15th century Year Date Event 1475 Pema Lingpa, a Bhutanese religious figure and tertön from Bumthang, discovered his first terma from Lake Membar near Bumthang.
17th century Year Date Event 1616 Ngawang Namgyal, 1st Zhabdrung Rinpoche, facing arrest and following visions in which it is said that the chief guardian deities of Bhutan offered him a home, leaves Tibet to establish a new base in western Bhutan, founding Chagri Monastery at the head of the Thimphu Valley. 1627 Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal builds Simtokha Dzong at the entrance to Thimphu valley. From this dzong, he exerts control over traffic between the powerful Paro Valley to the west and Trongsa Valley to the east. Circa 1627, during the first war with Tibet, Portuguese Jesuits Estêvão Cacella and João Cabral were the first recorded Europeans to visit Bhutan on their way to Tibet. They met with Ngawang Namgyal, presented him with firearms, gunpowder and a telescope, and offered him their services in the war against Tibet, but the Zhabdrung declined the offer. After a stay of nearly eight months, Cacella wrote a long letter from Chagri Monastery reporting the travel. This is a rare remaining direct report of the Zhabdrung. 1629 Attempted Tibetan invasion fails. 1631 Attempted Tibetan invasion fails. 1634 Ngawang Namgyal prevails in the Battle of Five Lamas over the Tibetan Empire and Bhutanese forces allied against him. The Zhabdrung is thus the first to unite Bhutan into a single country. The Zhabdrung establishes the Drukpa Lineage as the state religion under the dual system of government, and codifies the system of laws known as the Tsa Yig, based on Buddhist religious law (dharma). 1639 Attempted Tibetan invasion fails. 1643 A joint Mongol-Tibetan force sought to destroy Nyingma refugees who had fled to Bhutan, Sikkim, and Nepal. The Mongols had seized control of religious and civil power in Tibet in the 1630s and established the Gelug school as the state religion. Bhutanese rivals of Ngawang Namgyal encouraged the Mongol intrusion, but the Mongol force was easily defeated in the humid lowlands of southern Bhutan. 1647 Attempted Tibetan invasion fails. 1651 Ngawang Namgyal dies; however, his death is kept a secret for fifty-four years in order to keep Bhutan from disintegrating. While the Zhabdrung was supposedly away on an extended religious retreat, his son reigned. 1680 Bhutan invades Sikkim. The same year, Ngawang Namgyal's son is succeeded by the Zhabdrung's stepbrother. 1700 Bhutan invades Sikkim.
18th century Year Date Event 1714 Tibetan forces, aided by the Mongols, invade Bhutan but fail to gain control. 1730 Cooch Behar first requests Bhutanese assistance in repelling Mughal Empire encroachments, establishing a dependent relationship with Bhutan. 1770 Bhutan invades Sikkim, supported by troops from Cooch Behar. 1772 In a succession dispute in Cooch Behar, the Druk Desi's nominee for the throne was opposed by a rival who invited British troops; in effect, Cooch Behar became a dependency of the British East India Company. British expeditionary forces drive Bhutanese garrisons out of Cooch Behar, until that time a Bhutanese dependency. The Druk Desi petitions Lhasa unsuccessfully for assistance. (to 1773) 1774 25 April The Druk Desi signs a Treaty of Peace with the British East India Company. Under the treaty, Bhutan returns to its pre-1730 boundaries and allows the British to harvest timber in Bhutan. 1784 British government turns over to Bhutan the Bengal Duars territory, where boundaries had been poorly defined. As in its other foreign territories, Bhutan left administration of the Bengal Duars territory to local officials and collected its revenues.
19th century Year Date Event 1815 British mission to Thimphu fails to reach a conclusion amid increasing border tensions. 1838 British mission to Thimphu offers Bhutan a treaty providing for the extradition of Bhutanese officials responsible for incursions into Assam, free and unrestricted commerce between India and Bhutan, and settlement of Bhutan's debt to the British. In an attempt to protect its independence, Bhutan rejected the British offer. 1841 British annex Bhutanese controlled Assam Duars, paying a compensation of 10,000 rupees a year to Bhutan. 1842 Bhutan cedes control of the troublesome Bengal Duars to Britain. 1862 Bhutanese forces raid Sikkim and Cooch Behar; the British respond by withholding all compensation payments and demanding release of all captives and return of stolen property. These demands went unheeded by the Druk Desi, as he was alleged to be unaware of frontier officials' raids. 1864 Britain sends a peace mission to Bhutan in the wake of a recent civil war, during a period when two rival claimants to the office of Druk Desi competed for power. Though the British attempt to deal with both Druk Desis, the peace mission is rejected by Bhutan. November Britain declares war on Bhutan. The Duar War lasts five months, resulting in Bhutan's defeat and cession of significant territory under the Treaty of Sinchula. 1865 11 November Bhutan signs the Treaty of Sinchula, ceding territories in the Assam Duars and Bengal Duars, as well as the eighty-three-square-kilometer territory of Dewangiri in southeastern Bhutan, in return for an annual subsidy of 50,000 rupees. 1870 In the 1870s and 1880s, renewed competition among regional rivals – primarily the pro-British penlop of Trongsa and the anti-British, pro-Tibetan penlop of Paro – resulted in the ascendancy of Ugyen Wangchuck, the penlop of Trongsa. (to 1880) 1885 Ugyen Wangchuck, penlop (governor) of Trongsa, puts down civil unrest across Bhutan, consolidates power, and cultivates closer ties with British India.
20th century