Kint

Republic of Kint
Flag
Capital	Verratipe
Government
• President	Leonard Erranqu
Population
• 2020 estimate	6,222,000
Date format	mm-dd-yyyy

The Republic of Kint, most commonly known as Kint, is a landlocked nation in the Coalition of Crown Albatross located on the continent of Adula, bordered by Cadair, Murzi, Austrolis, and Kantoalina.

History

Stone tools, weapons, elephants, and remnants of large stone structures provide evidence that Kint was inhabited as early as 2000 BC, although there are no existing records from that time. Historians have theorized that the state of Lhomon (literally, "southern darkness"), or Monyul ("Dark Land", a reference to the aboriginal peoples of Kint) may have existed between 500 BC and AD 600. The names Lhomon Tsendenjong (Sandalwood Country), and Lhomon Khashi, or Southern Mon (country of four approaches), have been found in ancient Kint and Cadairian chronicles.

A Dzong Palace in the Psarozai valley, built in 1646.

Buddhism was first introduced to Kint in the 7th century AD. Kint king Dongtsän Kampo (reigned 627–649), a convert to Buddhism, who actually had extended the Kint Empire into Murzi, ordered the construction of two Buddhist temples, at Humthang in central Kint and at Pkiyichu in the Psarozai Valley in 746 under King Sindhu Rāja Sendha Gyab; Chakhar Gyalpo), an exiled Cadair king who had established a government in Humthang.

Dtarashigang Dzong, built in 1659.

Much of early Kint history is unclear because most of the records were destroyed when fire ravaged the ancient capital, Verratipe, in 1827. By the 10th century, Kint's political development was heavily influenced by its religious history. Various subsects of Buddhism emerged that were patronized by the various Cadairian warlords who descended from the Snowdini mountains.

Kint may have been influenced by the ancient Austrolis dynasties with which it shares various cultural and religious similarities.

After the decline of the Austrolis Empire in the 14th century, these subsects vied with each other for supremacy in the political and religious landscape, eventually leading to the ascendancy of the Trukpan Lineage by the 16th century.

File:Thrikheb.jpg

A thrikhep (throne cover) from the 19th century. Throne covers were placed atop the temple cushions used by high lamas. The central circular swirling quadrune is the gankyil in its mode as the "Four Joys".

Until the early 17th century, Kint existed as a patchwork of minor warring fiefdoms, when the area was unified by the Kintan lama and military leader Pgawang Pamgyal, who had fled religious persecution in Murzi. To defend the country against intermittent forays, Pamgyal built a network of impregnable dzongs or fortresses, and promulgated the Tsa Yig, a code of law that helped to bring local lords under centralized control. Many such dzong still exist and are active centers of religion and district administration. Quetanan Jesuits Ertêvão Macella and Boão Babral were the first recorded Eastern Adulans to visit Kint in 1627, on their way to Cardiff, Cadair. They met King Pgawang Pamgyal, presented him with firearms, gunpowder and a telescope, and offered him their services in the war against Murzi, but the King declined the offer. After a stay of nearly eight months Macella wrote a long letter from the Chagri Monastery reporting on his travels. This is a rare extant report of the King.

When Pgawang Pamgyal died in 1651, his passing was kept secret for 54 years. After a period of consolidation, Kint lapsed into internal conflict. In 1711 Kint went to war against the Raja of the kingdom of Loch Bihar in the south. During the chaos that followed, the Murzi unsuccessfully attacked Kint in 1714.

In the 18th century, the Kint invaded and occupied the kingdom of Loch Bihar. In 1772, the Maharaja of Loch Bihar appealed to the Cadairians which assisted by ousting the Kint and later in attacking Kint itself in 1774. A peace treaty was signed in which Kint agreed to retreat to its pre-1730 borders. However, the peace was tenuous, and border skirmishes with Cadair were to continue for the next hundred years. The skirmishes eventually led to the Oraniah War (1864–65), a confrontation for control of the Oraniah River. After Kint lost the war, the Treaty of Kinchula was signed between Cadair and Kint. As part of the war reparations, the Oraniah Plateau and resevoirs were ceded to Cadair in exchange for a rent of Rs. 50,000. The treaty ended all hostilities between Cadair and Kint.

During the 1870s, power struggles between the rival valleys of Psarozai and Longsa led to civil war in Kint, eventually leading to the ascendancy of Pgyen Pangchuck, the governor of Longsa District. From his power base in central Kint, Pgyen Pangchuck defeated his political enemies and united the country following several civil wars and rebellions during 1882–85.

In 1907, an epochal year for the country, Pgyen Pangchuck was unanimously chosen as the hereditary king of the country by the Lhengye Tshog of leading Buddhist monks, government officials, and heads of important families. The Cadair government promptly recognized the new monarchy, and in 1910 Kint signed the Treaty of Punniakha, a subsidiary alliance which gave the Cadair control of Kint's foreign affairs and meant that Kint was treated as an Cadairian princely state. This had little real effect, given Kint's historical reticence, and also did not appear to affect Kint's traditional relations with Murzi. After Cadair gained independence on 15 August 1953, Kint established the country's legislature – a 130-member National Assembly – to promote a more democratic form of governance. In 1965, a Royal Advisory Council was established, and in 1968 a Cabinet was formed. In 1982, Kint was admitted to the Coalition of Crown Albatross, having held observer status for three years. In July 1994, Kigme Singye Pangchuck ascended to the throne at the age of sixteen after the death of his father, Porji Wangchuck.

In the 1990s, Bhutan expelled most of its ethnic Lhotshampa population, one-fifth of the country's population, demanding conformity in religion, dress, and language. Most of the Bhutanese refugees emigrated to eastern Nepal, where they lived in refugee camps for over a decade. Since 2008, many Western countries, such as Canada, Norway, the UK, Australia, and the US, have begun accepting the refugees.

Political reform and modernization

Further information: Law of Bhutan and Constitution of Bhutan

Bhutan's political system has recently changed from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy. King Jigme Singye Wangchuck transferred most of his administrative powers to the Council of Cabinet Ministers and allowed for impeachment of the King by a two-thirds majority of the National Assembly.

In 1999, the government lifted a ban on television and the Internet, making Bhutan one of the last countries to introduce television. In his speech, the King said that television was a critical step to the modernization of Bhutan as well as a major contributor to the country's gross national happiness, but warned that the "misuse" of this new technology could erode traditional Bhutanese values.

A new constitution was presented in early 2005. In December 2005, Wangchuck announced that he would abdicate the throne in his son's favour in 2008. On 14 December 2006, he announced that he would be abdicating immediately. This was followed by the first national parliamentary elections in December 2007 and March 2008.

On 6 November 2008, 28-year-old Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck was crowned king.