[5] Their rule ended in 1790, when Bahadur Shah of Nepal invaded the region, forcing the last king - Mahendra Chand - to flee.

However, historians dispute this date, as it contradicts the chronology of the Katyuri kingdom, who are known to have ruled Kumaon until the third quarter of the 10th century.

[8] For example, the Pandukeshwar copper-plate inscription attests that the Katyuri king Lalita Sura Deva was ruling Kumaon during the 9th century, and held the imperial title Parama-bhattaraka Maharajadhiraja Parmaeshvara.

For example, the 1223 CE Baleshwar Temple inscription of Krachalla Deva, a conqueror from present-day Nepal, lists his ten counsellors and feudatories.

[9] Based on this, historian Krishna Pal Singh theorizes that Som Chand may have migrated to Kumaon amid the political upheaval resulting from the Ghaznavid invasion of the Kannauj kingdom during 1018-1019 CE.

Subsequently, the two met and agreed on a concord,[17] and thus Ain-e-Akbari, written during period of Akbar, also mentions the Sarkar of Kumaon, containing 21 Mahals (a geographical unit of the times) and the revenue collected.

[citation needed] One of the most powerful rulers of the Chand dynasty was Baz Bahadur (1638–78), who met Shahjahan in Delhi, and in 1655 joined forces with him to attack Garhwal, which was under its king, Pirthi Sah, and subsequently captured the Terai region including Dehradun, which was hence separated from the Garhwal kingdom.

This peace didn't last long as after just three months, unhappy over his lieutenants, Ali Mohammed Khan attacked again, though this time, he was stopped right at the entrance to the hills, at Barakheri, and defeated; and he made no further attempts to conquer the Kumaon kingdom, nor did the Muslim rulers of Delhi, and this remained the first and the last attack by Muslim rulers on the region.

[26] Due to internal strife, in the coming thirty years the kings lost most of the land they had previously ruled in the plains, and retained only the Bhabhar region.

Lord Moira, the Governor-General of India, decided to attack Almora in December 1814, marking the beginning of the Anglo-Nepalese War.

[28] Harak Deo Joshi, the minister of the last Chand Raja,[29] took the side of the British, a force of 4500 men marched from Kashipur in February, 1815.

[30] A truce was called the same day, and with the ratification of Treaty of Sugauli on 4 March 1816, Kumaon and Garhwal became a part of the British Raj.

[2] Pandey, relying on Pandit Rudra Datta Pant, places Som Chand's ascension to 700 CE (757 VS).

However, this date does not tally with the Katyuri chronology, and historical evidence suggests that Som Chand's rule began much later, probably around 1019-1021 CE.

[33][page needed] The first capital of Chand rulers, Champawat, in the stronghold popularly known as Kali Kumaon, is now a district headquarters town, and hold many remnants of once powerful Chand reign, including a medieval fort, Baleshwar temple, Nagnath Temple, etc.