Land and Climate

Bhutan covers an area of about 18,150 square miles (47,000 square kilometers). It may be divided into three regions—the Great Himalayas, the Lesser Himalayas, and the Duars plain. Alpine pastures on the high ranges of the snowcapped Great Himalayas are used for grazing yaks in the summer months. In the Lesser Himalayas the fertile valleys of central Bhutan are relatively flat and broad and are fairly well cultivated and populated. Along the southern border of Bhutan lies the Duars, which forms a strip 8 to 10 miles (13 to 16 kilometers) wide. With extremely heavy rainfall of from 200 to 300 inches (500 to 760 centimeters) a year, the entire Duars tract is unhealthful, hot, and steamy and is covered with dense semitropical forest and undergrowth.

The northern part of the Duars immediately bordering the mountains consists of a rugged, irregular, and sloping surface. At the foot of the mountains small villages are found in forest clearings, but most of the area is covered with dense vegetation inhabited by elephants, deer, tigers, and other wild animals. The southern part of the Duars bordering India is mostly covered with grassy parkland and bamboo jungle. A wildlife sanctuary has been established in the area. It contains many valued species of animals, including the golden langur, a slender long-tailed monkey that is rare elsewhere in the world.

People and Culture

Most of the Bhutanese people are of Tibetan ancestry. Known as Bhote or Bhutia, they share a common heritage of Tibetan culture and religion. Their language is Dzongkha, a Tibetan dialect. Dzongkha is also the official language of Bhutan. The Bhutia live mainly in northern and central Bhutan, and their religion is a form of Buddhism. In the southern part of the kingdom there is an ethnically mixed population of mostly Nepalese settlers whose religion is Hinduism. Their chief language is Nepali.

Economy

Farming is the principal occupation in Bhutan. There are many livestock and sheep-breeding farms. The chief crops are rice, corn (maize), oranges, and potatoes. Four government orchards in the temperate zone specialize in apples, pears, peaches, plums, apricots, and walnuts. A major force in Bhutan's agriculture has been the development of irrigation schemes.

A variety of industries has developed, including woodworking, timber, and small-scale distilleries, food canneries, and a nut and bolt factory. There is a silkworm farm in eastern Bhutan that produces raw silk for the local weaving industry, and there are several privately run sawmills operating throughout the country. Several Bhutanese cottage industries include making matches, soap, textiles, carpets, and candles.

Although paved highways connect various parts of the kingdom, yaks, mules, and ponies are still used as a mode of transportation on rough mountain roads. Bhutan has two airports—at Paro and Yangphulla. Trekking tours became popular after the country was opened for tourism in 1974. There is a telephone system that operates between main towns, but Thimphu, the capital, has the only service to places outside of the country.

History

Little is known of Bhutan's early history. For much of the 19th century the country was plagued by a series of civil wars. The king who came to power in 1972 was the fourth in a line of hereditary rulers, which began with the election of his great grandfather as maharaja of Bhutan in 1907. The absolute monarchy was changed to a form of democratic monarchy in 1969, and in 1998 the National Assembly assumed some of the king's powers when he gave up his role as head of the government. Two thirds of the members of Bhutan's National Assembly are elected.

Once isolated from the mainstream of world affairs by steaming jungles in the south and snow-covered mountain ranges in the north, Bhutan now finds itself caught between the old and the new. It is a country that has tried to adapt to modern opportunities and alternatives. At the same time, it has maintained pride in traditional culture.

Beginning in the 1960s the government implemented a series of five-year plans for economic growth. The first plan stressed the development of transportation and communication. Later plans concentrated on promoting self-sufficiency and encouraging participation in the government's development programs. Population (2002), 721,000.