The local story
A rice valley on the road to the border
Dentam's first farmers were Lepcha and Limboo families, who shared these western valleys long before the Namgyal dynasty was founded at Yuksom in 1642. Under the Chogyals the west was the heart of the kingdom, with its capitals at Yuksom and then Rabdentse, a day's walk or two from here. The late eighteenth century brought Gorkha armies from Nepal, who overran much of western Sikkim, and the land was secured again only after Nepal's war with the British; the Treaty of Titalia in 1817 restored to Sikkim the lands between the Mechi and Teesta rivers.
The valley's present shape dates from the late nineteenth century, when Nepali-speaking farmers were settled across southern and western Sikkim, especially after John Claude White became the first British Political Officer in 1889. They cut the wet-rice terraces that now step down the slopes and brought new crops and skills. Over the twentieth century large cardamom, grown in damp shade under alder trees, became the main cash crop of valleys like this one, and Sikkim grew into India's largest producer. Dentam today is a small market and subdivision headquarters serving the farms around it.
Beyond Dentam the road climbs west towards Uttarey and the Singalila ridge, which forms the border with Nepal. Local people speak of an old foot route over the ridge that villagers on both sides used, and the road from Dentam is now how travellers reach it, crossing a deep gorge on the way. In recent years a small dairy in the area is said to have made cheese from local milk; we could not confirm whether it still does, so ask in the market rather than counting on it.
