The Chand kings were a Hindu Rajput ruling clan of Kumaon Kingdom. The Chand kingdom was established by displacing the Katyuri kings by Som Chand,a prince from Jhushi. They ruled until before they were defeated by the Gorkha Kingdom in 1790 CE. The Chand kings ruled over the Kumaon Kingdom and parts of the Farwestern Nepal called Doti in present day Sudurpashchim Province.
The Chand kingdom was established by Som Chand in the 10th century, by displacing the Katyuri Kings, who had been ruling the area from the 7th century. He continued to call his state Kurmanchal, and established its capital in Champawat in Kali Kumaon, called so, due to its vicinity to river Kali.
Many temples built in this former capital city, during the 11th and 12th century exist today, this include the Baleshwar and Nagnath temples. Later their capital was shifted to Almora by Raja Kalyan Chand in 1563, when he laid the foundation of a town name 'Alam Nagar', which was also called, 'Rajapur', a name that still used and has been found inscribed on a number of copper plates of the time.
In 1581, the Chand King, Rudra Chand (1565–1597), son of Raja Kalyan Chand seized Sira defeating Raika king Hari Malla and attacked the Garhwal Kingdom for the first time, though this attack was repulsed by then king, Dularam Sah, and so were his subsequent attacks. Rudra Chandra was a contemporary of Akbar, and even paid him a visit in Lahore in 1587, as a mark of his obeisance. Akbarnama mentions him as "one of the great landlords of India", and further talks about his initial hesitation in approaching the court of Akbar, it was only Raja Todar Mal himself, sent his son Kalyan Das to assure him, did his proceed to meet Akbar. Subsequently, the two met and agreed on a concord, 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.
After death of Rudra Chand in 1597, his son, Lakshmi Chand, also continued attacks of Garhwal for many years, though he too was repulsed.