Treaty between Chogyal (monarch) of Kingdom of Sikkim and the British East India Company
Established British paramountcy over Sikkim and returned Nepalese-annexed Sikkimese territory in exchange for trade and passage rights to Tibet.
Key Facts
- Date signed
- 10 February 1817
- Negotiated by
- Captain Barre Latter
- Signing location
- Titalia (now Tetulia Upazila), Rangpur District
- Preceded by
- Anglo-Nepalese War, 1814–1816
- British rights gained
- Trading rights and rights of passage to Tibet frontier
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
The Anglo-Nepalese War of 1814–1816 ended with British victory and curtailed Nepalese expansion in the region. Sikkim had lost significant territory to Nepal over preceding centuries, and the Kingdom sought British support to recover its lands and secure its borders against further Nepalese encroachment.
The Treaty of Titalia was signed on 10 February 1817 between the Chogyal of Sikkim and the British East India Company, negotiated by Captain Barre Latter. The British guaranteed Sikkim's security and restored Sikkimese lands previously annexed by Nepal, while Sikkim granted the British trading rights and rights of passage up to the Tibet frontier.
The treaty established Britain as the paramount power over Sikkim, giving British India predominant and undisputed influence in the state, as later recorded in the Gazette of Sikkim (1894). It marked the beginning of formal British suzerainty over Sikkim and opened a strategically important corridor toward Tibet.
Political Outcome
Sikkim's security guaranteed and annexed territory restored; British East India Company gained trade and passage rights to Tibet; British paramountcy over Sikkim established.
Sikkim weakened by Nepalese territorial annexations, with no formal external security guarantee
British India assumed paramount authority over Sikkim, with undisputed predominant influence in the state