Kingdom of Bhutan (Central World)

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Kingdom of Bhutan
འབྲུག་ཡུལ་
Timeline: Central World

Flag of the Kingdom of Bhutan Royal Emblem of Bhutan A map of Bhutan
Anthem	"Druk Tsendhen"
Capital	Thimbu
Largest city	Thimbu
Other cities	Tongsa, Paro
Language   official	Dzongkha
others	Japanese, Chinese
Religion   main	Tibetan Buddhism
others	Hinduism, Mon
Ethnic Groups   main	Sharchop
others	Ngalop, Lhotsampa
Demonym	Bhutanese
Government	Constitutional Democratic Monarchy
King	Jigme Khesar Namgyel
Royal House:	Wangchuk
Prime Minister	Jigme Thinley
Area   main	38,816
water (%)	neglable
Population	691,000
Established	2007 (as a constitutional monarchy), 1907 (Wangchuck dynasty)
Currency	Ngultrum
Time Zone	UTC +6
summer	UTC +6 (not observed)
Calling Code	975
Internet TLD	.bt
Organizations	GEACOP

The Kingdom of Bhutan (Dzonghka: འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Wylle: Druk Gyal Khab, nicknamed little Tibet and The little mountainous nation) is a nation on eastern Asia. A constitutional monarchy, it is officially "Democratic", but in fact its elections are controlled by the Japanese Empire. It is bordered by Tibet to the north, east and west and India to the south, east and west.

History

Bhutan has been inhabited since as early as 2000 BC, although there are no surviving records from the time. Historians believe that on the time, Bhutan was named Lhomon ("southern darkness"), as a reference to the indigenous pagan Mon religion. The aboriginal Bhutanese were called Mompa. However, reports of these only come from nearby India and Tibet.

The earliest written event on Bhutan was the passage of the Buddhist Guru Riponche, in 747 A.D. However, Buthanese early history is not completely known, as the library of the early Bhutanese capital, Punakha, was burnt in 1827 by an accidental fire that ravaged the city. However, it is known that by the X Century, Bhutan was heavily influenced by Buddhism, the now majority capital which had almost eliminated Hinduism and the Mon religion. Buddhism acquired several branches in Bhutan after the Mongols took power on Bhutan and patronized Buddhism.

After the Mongols went out of Bhutan, the Drukpa sub-sect of Buddhism took power on Bhutan as a majority religion. However, Bhutan was a patchwork of minor fiefdoms until the 17th Century. Tibetan lama and military general Shabdrung Ngawang, who fled religious persecution on Tibet, unified the small, mountainous nation. He built a network of fortresses, and created a code of law that centralized the central government. Many fortresses and laws from the period still exist on the modern Kingdom of Bhutan.

After Ngwang died, Bhutan entered into civil war. Tibet attacked Bhutan twice: One in 1710 and one, with the help of the Mongols, on 1730. However, both attacks were repealed, and an armistice was signed in 1759.

In the late 1700's, the Bhutanese invaded the kingdom of Cooch Behar, now part of India. This nation appealed to the British to help them, and the Bhutanese were expelled. Bhutan agreed to retreat to its pre-1730 borders, losing almost half its territory. However, the peace was fragile, and continuous skirmishes and small unofficial wars were fought with the British for the next 100 years. This fights would lead to the Duar War, and, after a Bhutanese defeat, the Bhutanese lost lots of territory Bhutan fell onto civil war until 1910, where a new government took power and was made a puppet by the British.

World War 1

Bhutan, as a puppet of Britain, was in the pro-ally side of the war. However, Bhutan did not enter the war, and only severed relationships from Germany. Bhutan would therefore be spared from any territorial changes after World War One, and conditions remained exactly equal with Britain.

World War 2

Bhutan originally stayed neutral during the war, although it was always Ally-friendly. However, when China was being invaded, the Bhutanese declared war upon Japan. The war dragged on, but Bhutan never saw any enemy troops touching its territory. However, in January, 1945, Bhutan was forced to sign a peace treaty with Japan: The only true changes were that Bhutan started having democratic elections "supervised" by Japan and that the official status of Bhutan changed from being "guided by the United Kingdom" to "supervised and guided by the Empire of Japan