Eastern Garhwal joined with Kumaon under British administration

Background. The Anglo-Nepalese War arose from border disputes: Nepalese occupation of the Butwal Terai from 1804 to 1812, territory under British protection, was the immediate cause, and a Nepalese attack on East India Company police outposts in the disputed Butwal region in May 1814, killing 18 officials, became the casus belli. Lord Hastings formally declared war on the Kingdom of Nepal on 1 November 1814. During the conflict, David Ochterlony contemplated annexing Garhwal, less for revenue than to secure commercial communications with the shawl-wool country, viewing Dehra Dun as a potential entrepot for Trans-Himalayan trade.

Administrative Settlement. British forces under Colonel Nicholas entered Kumaon through Kashipur and conquered Almora on 26 April 1815. In 1815 the region was annexed by the British East India Company, and the Kumaon region was joined with the eastern half of the Garhwal region as a chief-commissionership on the non-regulation system, also known as the Kumaon Province. The passages date the annexation and joining to 1815 without specifying a month; the April date is documented only for the Almora conquest. The arrangement evidently preceded the treaty's formal ratification in 1816, though the passages do not state this sequencing directly.

Treaty Implications. The war concluded with the Treaty of Sugauli, formally ratified on 4 March 1816. Under the treaty, Nepal signed away territory and Kumaon officially became a British territory; the treaty of 1816 also required Nepal to surrender its far western provinces. At the war's end on 21 April 1815, as a result of the Treaty of Sugauli, the British annexed half of the Kingdom of Garhwal (Pauri Garhwal) and converted the other half (Tehri Garhwal) into a subsidiary princely state, though the passages attribute this outcome to the war's end rather than quoting the treaty text itself.