Tawang
town in Arunachal Pradesh, India
Tawang (Tibetan: རྟ་དབང་, Wylie: Rta-dbang) is a town and administrative headquarter of Tawang district in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. It lies on NH-13 section of Trans-Arunachal Highway. The town was once the headquarter of the Tawang Tract, which is now divided into the Tawang district and the West Kameng district. Tawang continues as the headquarters of the former. Tawang is the main tourist destination of Arunachal Pradesh.
India occupied Tawang in February 1951 and removed Tibetan administration from the area. China continues to claim Tawang as its territory. It is situated 448 km by road north-west of state capital Itanagar at an elevation of approximately 3,000 metres (10,000 ft). It lies to the north of the Tawang Chu river valley, roughly 10 miles (16 km) south of the Line of Actual Control with China. It is the site of a famous Gelugpa Buddhist Monastery.
“Tawang” enters the record as town in Arunachal Pradesh, India. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Tawang, town and Arunachal can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Tawang” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Tawang, town and Arunachal provides the most credible route into that argument.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1006270. VIAF identifies the subject as 146598059. The Library of Congress control number is n82021159. Authority coordinates are 27.588, 91.865. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1951.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Tawang”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Tawang primary sources, Tawang archive and Tawang research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Tawang”?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Tawang” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.