Zhemgang

Zhemgang stands on a ridge above the Mangde Chhu, overlooking the country traditionally known as Kheng. Its three divisions, upper, middle and lower Kheng, were long governed by competing local chiefs. A hermitage associated with the Tibetan lama Zhang Dorje Drakpa preceded the fortress that later rose here.

In the seventeenth century the rivalry of the Kheng chiefs drew the intervention of the Trongsa governor Chogyal Minjur Tenpa. After his forces defeated one of the rivals, other chiefs submitted to the Drukpa authorities. In 1655 Minjur Tenpa built a dzong on the site of the hermitage, one of the fortresses through which the eastern regions were brought under the central Bhutanese government. The stronghold came to symbolize the union of the three divisions of Kheng.