Political History

Although a complete book on the political history of Bhutan only started in the 20th century, there is plenty of information on the political history of Bhutan in the religious and other textual sources as well as oral histories. The polical history of Bhutan before the country was unified in the 17th century mainly deals with the local chieftains and kings who ruled over their valley polities. The establishment of the Drukpa state in the 17th century start a new political chapter under monk rulers. This gradually turned into a religious republic with civilian rulers in the 18th and 19th centuries. In early 20th century, Bhutan saw a monarchial rule under the Wangchuck dynasty, when a few political histories were written.