Tsona County () or Cona County () is a county in Shannan

prefecture A prefecture (from the Latin ''Praefectura'') is an administrative jurisdiction traditionally governed by an appointed prefect. This can be a regional or local government subdivision in various countries, or a subdivision in certain international ...

in southern part of

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

region of China. The county lies immediately to the north of the

McMahon Line The McMahon Line is the boundary between Tibet and British India as agreed in the maps and notes exchanged by the respective plenipotentiaries on 24–25 March 1914 at Delhi, as part of the 1914 Simla Convention. The line delimited the resp ...

agreed as the mutual border between

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

and

in 1914. Chine has not accepted the 1914 border delineation, but treats it as the

Line of Actual Control The Line of Actual Control (LAC), in the context of the Sino-Indian border dispute, is a notional demarcation lineAnanth KrishnanLine of Actual Control , India-China: the line of actual contest, 13 June 2020: "In contrast, the alignment o ...

(LAC). The Tsona County also borders

Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...

on its southwest.

Geography

Two main south-flowing rivers

Nyamjang Chu Nyamjang Chu, or Nyashang Chu () is a cross-border perennial river that originates in the Shannan Prefecture of Tibet and flows into the Arunachal Pradesh state of India, joining the Tawang Chu river just before it enters Bhutan. The Nyamjang C ...

and Tsona Chu flow through the county and enter India's

Tawang district Tawang district (Pron:/tɑ:ˈwæŋ or təˈwæŋ/) is the smallest of the 26 administrative districts of Arunachal Pradesh state in northeastern India. With a population of 49,977, it is the eighth least populous district in the country (out of ...

, where they join the

Tawang Chu Tawang Chu is the main river of the Tawang district in Arunachal Pradesh, India. The entire district may be regarded as the basin of the Tawang Chu river. In addition, two south-flowing rivers from Tibet, viz., Tsona Chu and Nyamjang Chu, join ...

river. Between Nyamjang Chu and Tsona Chu lies an undulating plateau, with streams flowing west to east, often after collecting into lakes. Napa Yutso Lake and Nyapa Tso are two such large lakes. In addition, the Tsona County also contains the basins of the east-flowing rivers that form the

Subansiri River The Subansiri River; is a trans- Himalayan river and a tributary of the Brahmaputra River that flows through Tibet's Lhünzê County, Shannan Prefecture and the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam. The Subansiri is long, with a draina ...

. Loro Karpo Chu (the "white Loro river") in the north leads to the Jorra township. Loro Nakpo Chu (the "black Loro river") leads to the Khartak (or Kardag) township.. Tsona Dzong, the main town and the headquarters of the Tsona County, is in the plateau between Nyamjang Chu and Tsona Chu. It is 34 km north of

Bum La Pass The Bum La Pass is a border pass between China's Tsona County in Tibet and India's Tawang district in Arunachal Pradesh. It is 37 km away from the town of Tawang in India's Tawang district and 43 km from the town of Tsona Dzong in C ...

, which marks the border with the Tawang district.Indo-China Border Trade
Department of Trade & Commerce, Government of Arunachal Pradesh, retrieved 13 July 2020. Immediately to the north of Bum La is the village of Shao (), whose full name Shauk Tago has been associated with Guru

Padmasambhava Padmasambhava ("Born from a Lotus"), also known as Guru Rinpoche (Precious Guru) and the Lotus from Oḍḍiyāna, was a tantric Buddhist Vajra master from India who may have taught Vajrayana in Tibet (circa 8th – 9th centuries)... According ...

and other Buddhist preachers over centuries. The location is mentioned in these texts as being part of "Monyul" i.e., Tawang area.

History

Tsona Dzong is on the historical trade route between Tibet and the

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

region of India. The original route led via the Nyamjang Chu and Tawang Chu rivers via

Trashigang Trashigang ( dz, བཀྲ་ཤིས་སྒང་།), or Tashigang, meaning "fortress of auspicious mount," is a town in eastern Bhutan and the district capital of the Trashigang Dzongkhag (district). The town lies to the east side of the ...

Dewangiri Dewangiri was a northern part of Kamrup, measuring , which was ceded to Bhutan in 1951. The area contains ruins of ancient temples and loose structures. In modern times it lost its earlier importance. It was used only for winter grazing of Bhutane ...

(then in Assam, but now in the

Samdrup Jongkhar District Samdrup Jongkhar District ( Dzongkha: བསམ་གྲུབ་ལྗོངས་མཁར་རྫོང་ཁག་; Wylie: ''Bsam-grub Ljongs-mkhar rdzong-khag'') is one of the 20 dzongkhags (districts) comprising Bhutan. The dominant langua ...

of Bhutan). In the 17th century, sectarian rivalries developed between the

Gelugpa 240px, The 14th Dalai Lama (center), the most influential figure of the contemporary Gelug tradition, at the 2003 Bodhgaya (India). The Gelug (, also Geluk; "virtuous")Kay, David N. (2007). ''Tibetan and Zen Buddhism in Britain: Transplantati ...

sect that was in the ascendant in Central Tibet and the Drukpa sect that got consolidated in Bhutan. The Mera lama of the

Merag-Sagteng Merag-Sagteng ( Dzongkha: མེ་རག་ སག་སྟེང་; Sakten Dungkhag;also called "Mera Sagteng," "Mera Sagten," "Merak Sagteng,""Mira Sagteng," and "Mira-Sakden") is a Dungkhag ( sub-district of a dzongkhag) of Trashigang Distric ...

region in present day Bhutan, belonging to the Gelugpa sect, was chased out of his native village by the Drukpa forces. He fled to the neigbouring Tawang region. The people of Tawang were apparently indifferent to the sectarian divisions, and the Mera lama requested help from the governor of Tsona. However, his forces were unable to resolve the conflict between the sects. Eventually a direct appeal to the

Fifth Dalai Lama Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso (; ; 1617–1682) was the 5th Dalai Lama and the first Dalai Lama to wield effective temporal and spiritual power over all Tibet. He is often referred to simply as the Great Fifth, being a key religious and temporal leader ...

was made asking him to "annex" Tawang. According to Tawang records, an edict to this effect was issued in 1680, establishing a new Gelugpa regime in Tawang. The Mera Lama was placed in a position of authority over the region and made responsible to Tsona. Since the traditional route via Trashigang was now lost to Bhutan, a new route was developed via

Dirang Dirang is a village in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. West Kameng is the name of the district that contains village Dirang. Dirang is one of the 60 constituencies of Legislative Assembly of Arunachal Pradesh. Name of current MLA (August ...

and the area under the Sela Pass was brought under Tawang's control. The Fifth Dalai Lama died two years after these events, and his reincarnation was discovered to have been born in Tawang in 1683. The family of the young boy, the next Dalai Lama, was secretly transported to Tsona, where the boy was raised under the watch of the Tsona dzongpöns. The family was taken to Nakartsé in 1697, after which the Desi (Regent) revealed the news of the Fifth Dalai Lama's death and his reincarnation to be installed as the

Sixth Dalai Lama Tsangyang Gyatso (; born 1 March 1683, died after 1706) was the 6th Dalai Lama. He was an unconventional Dalai Lama that preferred the lifestyle of a crazy wisdom yogi to that of an ordained monk. His regent was killed before he was kidnapped ...

Administration

The Tsona County has 9 townships:Tsona County
OpenStreetMap, See Members section. * Tsona/Cona (original name: Zholshar) * Chudromo/Quchomo (; ) * Kongri/Gongri (; ) * Kyipa/Jiba (; ) * Marmang/Mama (; ) * Khachu/Kuju (; ) * Lé (; ) * Khartak/Kardag/Kada (; ) * Jorra/Juela (; ) * Lampug/Langpo (; ) Kongri, Kyipa, Marmang, and Lé are in the Nyamjang Chu valley and are recognized as Monpa ethnic townships.

Climate

Maps

File:Map India and Pakistan 1-250,000 Tile NG 46-2 Towang.jpg, Map showing the border with Bhutan and Tawang, India (

AMS AMS or Ams may refer to: Organizations Companies * Alenia Marconi Systems * American Management Systems * AMS (Advanced Music Systems) * ams AG, semiconductor manufacturer * AMS Pictures * Auxiliary Medical Services Educational institutions * A ...

, 1955) File:NH-46-14 Lungtzutsung China.jpg, Map including part of Tsona, labeled as TS'O-NA-TSUNG (TS'O-NA) ( DMA, 1974)

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * * * *

External links

Tsona County
marked on OpenStreetMap
Cona County Annals
{{Coord, 27, 59, 19, N, 91, 57, 31, E, region:CN-54_type:adm2nd_source:dewiki, display=title Counties of Tibet Shannan, Tibet Territorial disputes of China Territorial disputes of India