Bhutan

Area: 18, 147 square miles

Population: 1,660,000

Capital: Thimphu (pop. 20,000)

Languages: Dzongkha (official) Gurung,

Assamese

Ethnic make-up: Bhote 60%, Napalese 25%

Religion: Buddhist (state religion 75%)

Hindu 25%

Currency: Indian rupee

Literacy rate: 15%

Imports: gasoline, fabrics, light equipment

Exports: timber, rice, coal, fruit

Trading partners: India

(Bhutan, 740)

Climate and Geography

Bhutan is a small country located in the Himalayas. It does have a richly scenic land though. There are broad, grassy valleys; forested mountain ranges, and heavily wooded jungle areas. There are three geographic regions in which the country is divided. Northern Bhutan lies in the Great Himalayas where the mountains reach as high as 24,000 ft. and the weather is cold. Central Bhutan is in the middle of the Himalayan region where there are several fertile valleys. The Duars plain, along the southern border of Bhutan is a hot, humid, and rainy area. This jungle region is filled with malaria infested swamps. (Karan, 224)

Economy

Bhutan is the poorest of all the Himalayan countries. It's underdeveloped, but has the potential to develop it's economy. Farming is Bhutan's chief economic activity. Different crops are grown depending on it's elevation. Rice and buckwheat are grown up to 5000 ft. Barley and wheat are grown up to 9000 ft. Coal is the only mineral mined. It's economy hasn't been able to develop due to it's remoteness, lack of convenient markets, qualified technicians, and transportation facilities. In 1974 Bhutan began to welcome tourists. In 1990, more than 1500 tourists visited Bhutan, and tourism was the largest source of foreign exchange. There are no railroads, but by 1990 there were about 2336 km of roads linking many parts of the country. (Karan, 224)

History

The origin of the name Bhutan is still a mystery, It may be derived from the Sanskrit bhu-uttan, meaning "the high country" or from the Indian word bhot'anta, referring to those regions that border Tibet. It may also mean "the country of the Bhotias", in reference to a Tibetan people who settled in the foothills of the Himalaya.

The people themselves call their country "Druk Yul" the Land of the Dragon, or more exactly the land of the drukpa who forged its unity in the 17th century. Little is know of prehistoric Bhutan. However, stone implements and megaliths marking places of worship or hunting grounds indicate that people lived here at the end of the Neolithic period, around 2000 BC. During the first millennium BC, nomadic tribes of Indian or Tibeto-Mongol origin appear to have mixed with these native people.

The earliest texts referring to Bhutan appear in the 7th century. They relate the construction of the temples at Kyichu in the Paro valley and Jampa Lhakhang in Bumthang by the Tibetan king Songtsen Gampo (c.618-649). Through these acts, the monarch helped to spread Buddhism into the southern valleys where at that time animist and shamanic religions prevailed. It was with the arrival of the great Indian master Padmasambhava in the 8th century that Buddhism really began to spread throughout this Himalayan lands. Known as Guru Rinpoche by the Bhutanese and Tibetans, Padmasambhava is said to have arrived in Bhutan in 747, invited to the country to cure an ailing king. He meditated, taught Buddhism and had several temples built. The place he visited are still venerated today. With the coming of Padmasambhava, Buddhism began gradually to replace the local cults, occasionally absorbing some of their rituals and beliefs. The growth of Buddhism was accelerated with the influx of Tibetan Buddhists fleeing persecution by King Langdarma in the 9th century. Many settled in eastern Bhutan, where they formed small principalities.

The second period of Buddhist expansion took place after the arrival of certain great religious teachers in the 13th century. These included Phajo Drugom Shigpo (1208-1276), a Tibetan lama who came from Kham. He founded Tango monastery and began to spread the doctrine of the drukpas in the western part of the country. Another venerated lame was Longchen Rabjampa (1308-1363), a nyingmapa master who settled in the Bumthang valley.

While Buddhism was gradually becoming the focus of Bhutan's spiritual unity, political unity was far from becoming reality. The hard conditions and rugged landscape make any attempt at centralized authority extremely difficult. With each valley controlled by eminent local families, Bhutan was jigsaw of tiny, rival territories in an almost permanent state of war with each other.

In 1616, due to a quarrel over in Tibet, Ngawang Namgyel was forced to flee to Bhutan where he was welcomed by the Bhutanese disciples of the drukpa school, whose influence had continued to grow since the 12th century.His arrival in Bhutan would be a major turning point in the country's history and organization. Ngawang Namgyel, who is still referred to as Shabdrung "He at whose feet one falls", quickly imposed his political and religious authority throughout western Bhutan. In just a few years, he succeeded in bringing together all the independent principalities and initiating a process of unification. When he died in 1651, order had been restored almost everywhere. The great fortresses of Simtokha, Punakha, Wangdue Phodrang and Trongsa were built during his reign. While ensuring the country's security, they also served as relays for the central authority and its administration. Resisting many invasions by the Tibetans and Mongols during the course of his reign, Ngawang Namgyel quickly became both feared and admired inside Bhutan and beyond its borders. His great