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Tinkar is a village in the Byas municipality of Darchula District in the Sudurpashchim province of Nepal. It is named after Tinkar Khola river, a tributary of the Mahakali River, which it joins near the village of Chhangru. At the top of the Tinkar valley near the Tibet border is the Tinkar Pass (5,258 m), which has traditionally provided the trading route for the Byansis of the region for the Tibetan trading centre Burang.

History

According to the Himalayan Gazetteer, the entire Byans region to the south as well as north of the Mahakali River used to be part of Kumaon. After the unification of Nepal in the 18th century, Nepal expanded northwest and conquered the kingdoms of Kumaon as well as Garhwal. The expansion lasted till 1815. In that year, during the Anglo-Nepalese War, the British general Ochterlony evicted the Nepalese from Garhwal and Kumaon across the Mahakali River. After agreeing the Treaty of Sugauli, which made a territorial settlement, the Nepalese appealed to the British governor general that they were entitled to the areas to the southeast of the Mahakali River. The British conceded the demand, and the Tinkar Valley with its large villages of Chhangru and Tinkar was transferred to Nepal. The British, however, retained the areas to the northwest of the Mahakali River, including the Kuthi Valley and the Kalapani territory near the headwaters of the Mahakali.

The Tinkar Pass at the top of the Tinkar Valley is the de facto tri-junction between China, India and Nepal. The Article 1 of the China–Nepal border treaty of 1961 states:

The Chinese-Nepalese boundary line starts from the point where the watershed between the Kali River and the Tinkar River meet the watershed between the tributaries of the Mapchu (Karnali) River on the one hand and the Tinkar River on the other hand.

This being the precise geographical description of the location of the Tinkar Pass, the Border Pillar numbered 1 of the China–Nepal border was placed here.

After the 1962 border war between India and China, India closed the Lipulekh Pass at the top of the Kalapani river valley. The Byansis of Kumaon then used the Tinkar Pass for all their trade with Tibet. In 1997, India and China agreed to reopen the Lipulekh pass, and the use of the Tinkar Pass had declined.

See also

• Lipulekh pass

References

1. Śreshṭha, Border Management of Nepal (2003), p. 243 harvp error: no target: CITEREFŚreshṭha,_Border_Management_of_Nepal2003 (help)
2. "Valleys of Nepal‛s Northwestern Corner". www.ai.stanford.edu. April 2016. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
3. "Tinkar Pass". Retrieved 20 November 2019.
4. "Api Best Camp, West Nepal" (PDF). Mountain Kingdoms Ltd. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
5. ^ Atkinson, Himalayan Gazetteer, Vol. 2, Part 2 (1981), pp. 679–680.
6. Whelpton, A History of Nepal (2005), p. 41-42.
7. Rose, Nepal – Strategy for Survival (1971), pp. 83–85: "Ochterlony forced Amar Singh Thapa to agree at Malaun to terms under which the Nepali army retired with their arms, and the territory between the Kali and Sutlej rivers came under the control of the British."
8. Manandhar & Koirala, Nepal-India Boundary Issue (2001), p. 4.
9. Cowan (2015), p. 16.
10. Cowan (2015), pp. 16–17.
11. Schrader, Trading Patterns in the Nepal Himalayas (1988), p. 99: "Lipu La, however, was closed in 1962, due to the strained Sino-Indian relations. Today remaining trade moves via Tinkar La."
12. Rose, Leo E. (January–February 1999), "Nepal and Bhutan in 1998: Two Himalayan Kingdoms", Asian Survey, 39 (1): 155–162, JSTOR 2645605

Bibliography

• Atkinson, Edwin Thomas (1981) , The Himalayan Gazetteer, Volume 2, Part 2, Cosmo Publications – via archive.org
• Cowan, Sam (2015), The Indian checkposts, Lipu Lekh, and Kalapani, School of Oriental and African Studies {{citation}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
• Manandhar, Mangal Siddhi; Koirala, Hriday Lal (June 2001), "Nepal-India Boundary Issue: River Kali as International Boundary", Tribhuvan University Journal, 23 (1)
• Rose, Leo E. (1971), Nepal – Strategy for Survival, University of California Press, ISBN 978-0-520-01643-9
• Schrader, Heiko (1988), Trading Patterns in the Nepal Himalayas, Bow Historical Books, ISBN 978-3-88156-405-2
• Whelpton, John (2005), A History of Nepal, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-80470-7

• Sudurpashchim Pradesh
• Mountain passes of Nepal