Very little has actually been recorded as historical accounts in Bhutan – the language did not have a script till one was invented in the 1960s, and whatever little writings existed were written in choekyid, a classical Buddhist script of Tibeto-Burmese origin, by religious scholars. As a result, the history of Bhutan reads like a history of Buddhism with fact and myth inseparably wound together.

There is not much known of ancient Bhutan except that the people were essentially agrarian and practiced Bonism, a form of nature worship. It wasn’t until the eighth century, when the saint, Guru Padmasambhava, visited that Buddhism became predominant in Bhutan. The history of medieval Bhutan is marked by visits and construction of temples by other Buddhists saints and scholars from India and Tibet. This was also the time when arts and architecture developed and ruling clans emerged.
Curiously, the most outstanding figure in Bhutanese history was an immigrant from Tibet, Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal, a leader of the Drukpa Kagyu sect of Tantric Buddhism, who came to Bhutan in 1616. A man of immense charisma, diplomatic skill, political mettle and mastery in warfare as well as Buddhist practice, the Shabdrung was the first person to unify and stabilize Bhutan under one political power. In addition to repelling repeated Tibetan invasions, he introduced a dual system of government, a judicial system, a monastic order, a system of maintaining land records, and constructed Bhutan’s first dzongs (fortresses) as religious and administrative centers. In 1627, two Portuguese Jesuits, Father Caella and Cabral, who were the first western travelers to set foot in Bhutan, wrote of the Shabdrung as the "King and at the same time the chief Lama." The stability of the Shabrung’s reign lasted no more than half a century after his death. Political infighting, assassinations and instability returned to the fore and continued till the early 20th century.

Relations with British India began and developed during the 18th and 19th centuries. Bhutan became important to the British as a passage for trade with Tibet. The first political missions from India were received warmly, but Bhutanese-English ties began to deteriorate in the 19th century and culminated in the Duar war of 1864-65. Although the British eventually won, Bhutan was never colonized.
Come the 20th century and Bhutan was reunified by Ugen Wangchuck, whose dynasty continues to rule Bhutan today. After becoming the first Druk Gyalpo or hereditary ruler of Bhutan in 1907, Ugen Wangchuck set about repairing foreign relations with British India, even winning knighthood in the process. His successor, Jigme Wangchuck, was more wary of the British and favored the old isolationist policy. The reign of the third King, Jigme Dorji Wangchuk, saw the country open up and become a member of the United Nations. He has thus been called the Father of Modern Bhutan.

It is his son, His Majesty the fourth King, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, who has achieved the most for Bhutan as of today. Loved and respected almost to the point of Godhood, it was He who initiated the process by which Bhutan is poised to become a constitutional democracy after 100 years of monarchy. Come 2008 and the position of Druk Gyalpo will continue to exist in a more titular but no less respected form, in the person of the Present King, His Majesty Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck.