Chumbi Valley

Subject – Geography

Context – ‘China strengthening connectivity in Chumbi’

Concept –

Chumbi Valley is also called Dromo, Tromo or Chomo.
It 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 Tibet region of China.
The Chumbi Valley is connected to Sikkim to the southwest via the mountain passes of Nathu La and Jelep La.
The valley is at an altitude of 3,000 m (9,800 ft), and being on the south side of the Himalayas, enjoys a wetter and more temperate climate than most of Tibet.
The valley supports some vegetation in the form of the Eastern Himalayan broadleaf forests and transitions to the Eastern Himalayan alpine shrub and meadows in the north.
The plant Pedicularis chumbica is named after the valley.

Chumbi Valley is a 100-km protrusion of Chinese territory located between Bhutan in the east and Sikkim in the west.

History –

The 1904 Younghusband Expedition of British India passed through the Chumbi Vally on its way to Lhasa.
At the end of the expedition, the British took control of the Chumbi Valley in lieu of a war indemnity.
China agreed to pay the indemnity owed by the Tibetans in three installments and the Chumbi Valley was transferred back to Tibet on 8 February 1908.