Buddhist Kingdom of Sikkim
Chopel's History in a Nutshell (III)
In the 19th century, the British East India Company gently but firmly pressed the Chogyal for a lease of the practically uninhabited ridge of Darjeeling. Unruliness on the part of the Sikkimese court provided the British a pretext all too welcome to punish the kingdom, annexing the surrounding territory to the size of the actual Darjeeling district. Chogyal Thutob Namgyal made Gangtok the new capital of what was left of his kingdom.