The Bhutan–India border is the

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international border Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political border ...

separating the

Kingdom of 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 mountainou ...

from the

Republic of India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

. The border is 699 km (434 m) long, and adjoins the Indian states of

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 ...

(267 km; 166 m),

Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh (, ) is a state in Northeastern India. It was formed from the erstwhile North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and became a state on 20 February 1987. It borders the states of Assam and Nagaland to the south. It shares ...

(217 km; 135 m),

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...

(183 km; 114 m), and

Sikkim Sikkim (; ) is a state in Northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Province No. 1 of Nepal in the west and West Bengal in the south. Sikkim is also close to the Sil ...

(32 km; 20 m).

Description

The border starts in the west at the western

tripoint A tripoint, trijunction, triple point, or tri-border area is a geographical point at which the boundaries of three countries or subnational entities meet. There are 175 international tripoints as of 2020. Nearly half are situated in rivers, l ...

with

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, ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

, proceeding from there broadly southwards across Mount

Gipmochi Gipmochi (Gyemo Chen or Gamochen, 'The Great Queen') is a mountain in the Lower Himalayas in south central Asia. Rising to a height of , the mountain sits on the border between the northern Indian state of Sikkim and Bhutan. China claims Gipmo ...

and down to the

Jaldhaka River The Jaldhaka River (Pron:/ˌdʒælˈdɑːkə/) ( bn, জলঢাকা নদী), also known as Dichu, a tributary of Brahmaputra is a trans-boundary river flowing through India, Bhutan and Bangladesh with a length of 233 kilometres. It ori ...

. It then utilises this river for a period before turning south-westwards and then east via a series of irregular overland lines that broadly follow the foothills of the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 10 ...

, notably Dangme Chhu peak. It then turns to the north, turns west near

Sakteng Sakteng ( dz, སག་སྟེང་, sag steng, size=150%) is a town and the headquarters of an eponymous gewog in Trashigang District in far eastern Bhutan. The nearby Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary is named after it. In popular culture Sakteng w ...

, briefly utilising 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, jo ...

and Nyamjang Chu, before turning north up to the eastern Chinese tripoint.

History

Britain had begun conquering India from the 17th century, gradually expanding their rule and creating

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 ...

. This brought them into conflict with Bhutan, with

Cooch Behar Cooch Behar (), or Koch Bihar, is a city and a municipality in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the Cooch Behar district. It is in the foothills of the Eastern Himalayas at . Cooch Behar is the only planned city in ...

being annexed by Britain in 1770 and a peace treaty signed in 1774 which recognised Bhutan's then borders. Boundary disputes flared up repeatedly in the first half of the 1800s, with Britain annexing the

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

and

Assam Duars The Dooars or Duars ( as, দুৱাৰ, duar, rkt, দুৱাৰ, duar, bn, দুয়ার, duyar) () are the alluvial floodplains in eastern-northeastern India that lie south of the outer foothills of the Himalayas and north of t ...

in 1841–42. Continuing tensions led to the

Bhutan War The Duar War (or Anglo-Bhutan War) was a war fought between British India and Bhutan in 1864–1865. It has been the only military conflict between the two states since 1774. Background Across the nineteenth century, British India commissioned ...

of 1860–65; by the subsequent Treaty of Sinchula Bhutan permanently ceded the Bengal and Assam Duars and parts of

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 ...

. Some further modifications to the boundary were made in 1910 via the Treaty of Punakha. In 1947 India gained independence from Britain, and two years later it signed a treaty with Bhutan by which it recognised the country's sovereignty, though retaining significant influence over its foreign affairs. The boundary was further detailed and refined in the 1973-1984 period through talks between Bhutan and India. Border disputes of a relatively minor nature existed concerning part of the border with Arunachal Pradesh, and the region between

Sarbhang Sarpang, also transliterated as Sarbhang or Sarbang, is a thromde or town in Sarpang District in southern Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in So ...

and Geylegphug. In 2006 a final border demarcation treaty was signed. A new friendship and cooperation treaty granting Bhutan greater freedom in external matters was signed in 2007.

Transport and crossings

The border between Bhutan and India is the only land access into entering Bhutan, as the border with

is completely closed. The single entry point for foreign nationals is between the towns of

Jaigaon Jaigaon is a census town in Alipurduar subdivision under Kalchini Block of Alipurduar district in the state of West Bengal, India. It is located on the country's border with Bhutan, and ''Bhutan Gate'' separates the two countries. Phuentsholing ...

Alipurduar subdivision Alipurduar subdivision is an administrative division of the Alipurduar district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Geography Subdivisions Alipurduar district is divided into the following administrative subdivisions: Administrative units ...

Alipurduar District Alipurduar is a city and a municipality in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the Alipurduar district. Situated on the east bank of Kaljani River on the foothills of the Himalayas, the city is a gateway to Bhutan an ...

in the Indian state of

and

Phuntsholing Phuntsholing, also spelled as Phuentsholing ( dz, ཕུན་ཚོགས་གླིང་), is a border town in southern Bhutan and is the administrative seat of Chukha District. The town occupies parts of both Phuentsholing Gewog and Samp ...

, in South West

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 mountainou ...

Border protection

The Indian government deploys 12 battalions of

Sashastra Seema Bal Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB; ) is a border guarding force of India deployed along its borders with Nepal and Bhutan. It is one of the seven Central Armed Police Forces under the administrative control of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). The fo ...

(SSB), and 132 border posts, to guard the border on its side. The bilateral Indian-Bhutan Group Border Management and Security has been established to collaboratively assess and secure the border between the two countries. The Bhutan Army patrols the Bhutanese side. Following the

2017 China–India border standoff The 2017 China–India border standoff or Doklam standoff was a military border standoff between the Indian Armed Forces and the People's Liberation Army of China over Chinese construction of a road in Doklam, near a trijunction border area kn ...

, the Indian government increased the number of border posts.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bhutan-India border Borders of Bhutan Borders of India International borders

Description

History

Transport and crossings

Border protection

See also

References