Culture · Thambi View Point
Read the 1888 battlefield from the road
Stop between Thambi and Lungthung and trace the 1888 campaign on the ground: the stockade at Jeluk below, the Tibetan fort of Lingtu on the ridge, and Gnathang beyond, where the decisive fighting of that year took place.
Photo: Unknown author · Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
This is a history stop rather than a sight. From the road between Thambi and Lungthung you can see the whole stage of the 1888 Sikkim expedition. Below is Zuluk, the Jeluk of British reports, where Graham's force attacked a Tibetan stockade on 20 March. Above you is the ridge of Lingtu, where Tibetan troops had built a fortified gate across the trade road and a fort to guard it.
The British occupied Lingtu on 21 March 1888. The Tibetans regrouped and on 22 May attacked the British camp at Gnathang, three or four miles to the north, with what British accounts claimed were 3,000 men. The campaign ended in British victory by September, and the 1890 Convention of Calcutta fixed the Sikkim–Tibet border along the watershed you can see ahead.
There are no markers on the ridge itself, and much of it lies in army areas, so stay by the road and do not climb. Read the Wikipedia article on the Sikkim expedition before you go, then visit the memorial at Nathang to complete the story.
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Questions travellers ask
Before you book
Can we visit the site of Lingtu fort?
No marked site exists, and the ridge lies close to army positions, so we do not take guests off the road. You can see the ground from the road between Thambi and Lungthung. The story is best told on the spot and completed at the war memorial near Gnathang in Nathang Valley.
Who fought in the 1888 Sikkim expedition?
A British Indian force under Brigadier-General Thomas Graham against Tibetan troops who had occupied Lingtu in Sikkim. The British won, and the 1890 Convention of Calcutta between Britain and China recognised British influence over Sikkim and set the Sikkim–Tibet border. Wikipedia's article on the Sikkim expedition gives a detailed account.
Is there a memorial to the 1888 battle?
Yes, a war memorial near Gnathang in Nathang Valley remembers men who died during the British occupation of Gnathang. It is a short stop on the Silk Route circuit, usually combined with the gumpa at Gnathang. Indian nationals only, with the Silk Route permit.
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Padamchen · Zuluk · Thambi View Point · Nathang Valley
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