Cho La or Cho-la () is a

mountain pass A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since many of the world's mountain ranges have presented formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both Human migration, human a ...

in the

Chola range Dongkya or Dongkhya range, is a mountain range in the lower Himalayas that forms the eastern border of Sikkim, currently a state of India. Its northern tip extends to Dongkha La, and as it moves southwards, sometimes referred to as the Chola ra ...

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 100 ...

. It connects the Indian

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

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 Siligur ...

with

China's China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Tibet Autonomous Region The Tibet Autonomous Region or Xizang Autonomous Region, often shortened to Tibet or Xizang, is a Provinces of China, province-level Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China in Southwest China. I ...

. It is situated around four miles to the north-west of

Nathu La Nathu La (, ) is a mountain pass in the Dongkya Range of the Himalayas between China's Yadong County in Tibet, and the Indian states of Sikkim and West Bengal in Bengal, South Asia. The pass, at , connects the towns of Kalimpong and Gangtok to ...

. Cho La used to be the main mountain pass between Sikkim and the

Chumbi Valley The Chumbi Valley, called Dromo or Tromo in Tibetan, is a valley in the Himalayas that projects southwards from the Tibetan plateau, intervening between Sikkim and Bhutan. It is coextensive with the administrative unit Yadong County in the Ti ...

(Yadong County), connecting the Sikkimese capital of

Tumlong Tumlong is a village in the Indian state of Sikkim in northeastern India. It is located in the Mangan sub division of North Sikkim district. it is on the bank of the Dik Chu river, a tributary of the Teesta River. Tumlong was the capital of the ...

with the

Chumbi Chumbi (; ) is a historic village in the Chumbi Valley or the Yadong County of the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. It is in the valley of Amo Chu river, where the route from Sikkim's Cho La pass meets the Amo Chu valley. The "Chumbi Valley" of ...

town. Towards the end of the 19th century, the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

developed

Jelep La Jelep La (; ) elevation , is a high mountain pass between Sikkim, India and Tibet Autonomous Region, China. It is on a route that connects Lhasa to India. The pass is about south of Nathu La and is slightly higher. It was frequently used for ...

, and later

, as they were accessible from British India, and Cho La fell into relative disuse.

History

Southeast Sikkim (Joseph Dalton Hooker, 1854)

The Cho La pass was in regular used by the Sikkim royal family, which had a summer palace at Chumbi and used to spend summers there. The road between Tumlong and Chumbi via Cho La was kept in good condition. The route was also the main trading route between Sikkim and Tibet. The first Europeans to visit the Chola Pass were

Archibald Campbell Archibald Campbell may refer to: Peerage * Archibald Campbell of Lochawe (died before 1394), Scottish peer * Archibald Campbell, 2nd Earl of Argyll (died 1513), Lord Chancellor of Scotland * Archibald Campbell, 4th Earl of Argyll (c. 1507–1558) ...

(Darjeeling superintendent) and

Joseph Dalton Hooker Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (30 June 1817 – 10 December 1911) was a British botanist and explorer in the 19th century. He was a founder of geographical botany and Charles Darwin's closest friend. For twenty years he served as director of t ...

(botanist) in 1849, who attempted to travel to Chumbi in order to visit the Dewan who was staying there. Sikkim had an agreement with Tibet not to allow foreigners into the Tibetan territory. The two men were arrested at the Chola Pass and detained for several weeks. Sikkim had to face retribution from the British Raj for the insult caused. The Cho La pass was one of the sites of the 1967

Nathu La and Cho La clashes The Nathu La and Cho La clashes, sometimes referred to as the Sino-Indian War of 1967, consisted of a series of border clashes between India and China alongside the border of the Himalayan Kingdom of Sikkim, then an Indian protectorate. The ...

between China and India.

Access

On the Indian side, there is a fair-weather mountain road linking the pass to

Changgu Tsomgo Lake'','' also known as Tsongmo Lake or Changgu Lake, is a glacial lake in the East Sikkim district of the Indian state of Sikkim, some from the capital Gangtok. Located at an elevation of , the lake remains frozen during the winter sea ...

on the Nathu-la road. On the Chinese side, there is a

border outpost A border outpost, border out post, border observation post or BOP above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

. Road to the outpost was repaved in 2016.

References

Bibliography

* {{Mountain passes of India China–India border Mountain passes of Tibet Mountain passes of China Mountain passes of Sikkim Mountain passes of India Mountain passes of the Himalayas Gangtok district Yadong County