The Kingdom of Bhutan is a sovereign nation, located towards the eastern extreme of the Himalayas mountain range. It is fairly evenly sandwiched between the sovereign territory of two nations: first, the People's Republic of China on the north and northwest. There are approximately 477 kilometres of border with that nation's Tibet Autonomous Region. The second nation is the Republic of India on the south, southwest, and east; there are approximately 659 kilometres with the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, West Bengal, and Sikkim, in clockwise order from the kingdom. Bhutan's total borders amount to 1,139 kilometres. The Republic of Nepal to the west, the India to the south, and the Union of Myanmar to the southeast are other close neighbours; the former two are separated by only very small stretches of Indian territory.
Dzong architecture is used for dzongs, a distinctive type of fortified monastery architecture found mainly in Bhutan and Tibet. The architecture is massive in style with towering exterior walls surrounding a complex of courtyards, temples, administrative offices, and monks' accommodation.
Wangdue Phodrang District is a dzongkhag (district) of central Bhutan. This is also the name of the dzong which dominates the district, and the name of the small market town outside the gates of the dzong—it is the capital of Wangdue Phodrang District). The name is said to have been given by the Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal who was searching for the best location for a dzong to prevent incursions from the south. The word "wangdue" means unification of Country, and "Phodrang" means Palace in Dzongkha.
Punakha District is one of the 20 dzongkhags (districts) comprising Bhutan. It is bordered by Thimphu, Gasa, and Wangdue Phodrang Districts. The dominant language in the district is Dzongkha, the national language.
Tsirang District (Dzongkha: རྩི་རང་རྫོང་ཁག་; Wylie: Rtsi-rang rdzong-khag; previously, is one of the 20 dzongkhags of Bhutan. The administrative center of the district is Damphu.
Sankosh is a river that rises in northern Bhutan and empties into the Brahmaputra in the state of Assam in India. In Bhutan, it is known as the Puna Tsang Chu below the confluences of several tributaries near the town of Wangdue Phodrang.
Mangde Chhu or Tongsa river flows in central Bhutan traversing roughly north–south. The river rises in Wangdue Phodrang district, near Gangkhar Puensum, Bhutan's highest peak at 7,546 metres (24,757 ft). Bhutan's main east–west highway crosses the Mangde Chhu about 8 kilometres (5 mi) west of Trongsa. South of Trongsa, the river drains the eastern slopes of the Black Mountains (Bhutan), and forms the eastern boundaries of Black Mountain National Park and Royal Manas National Park. Another highway follows the river south from Trongsa to Shemgang. The highway leaves the river at Tingtinbi, and eventually reaches the Indian border at Gelegphug. South of Tingtinbi, the Mangde is joined by the Bumthang River from the east, and is known as the Tongasa. Shortly before entering India in Assam, the Manas River flows into the river from the east, and the river exits Bhutan near Manas.
Punakha is the administrative centre of Punakha dzongkhag, one of the 20 districts of Bhutan. Punakha was the capital of Bhutan and the seat of government until 1955, when the capital was moved to Thimphu. It is about 72 km away from Thimphu, and it takes about 3 hours by car from the capital, Thimphu. Unlike Thimphu, it is quite warm in winter and hot in summer. It is located at an elevation of 1,200 metres above sea level, and rice is grown as the main crop along the river valleys of two main rivers of Bhutan, the Pho Chu and Mo Chu. Dzongkha is widely spoken in this district.
Torsa River rises from the Chumbi Valley in Tibet, China, where it is known as Machu. It flows into Bhutan, where it is known as the Amo Chu. Finally it flows in West Bengal in India and Bangladesh, where it is called Torsa. It has a length of 358 kilometres (222 mi) before entering India, of which 113 kilometres (70 mi) are in Tibet and 145 kilometres (90 mi) in Bhutan. It is also known as: Chumbi, Am-Chu, Jaldhaka.
Wangdue Phodrang is a town and capital of Wangdue Phodrang District in central Bhutan. It is located in Thedtsho Gewog.
The Manas River is a transboundary river in the Himalayan foothills between southern Bhutan and India. It is the largest river system of Bhutan, among its four major river systems; the other three are Amo Chu or Torsa river, Wong Chu or Raidak, Puna Tshang Chu or Sankosh. It is met by three other major streams before it again debouches into India in western Assam. The total length of the river is 400 kilometres (250 mi), flows through Tibet, China for 24 km (15 mi), flows in Bhutan for 272 kilometres (169 mi) and then flows through Assam for 104 kilometres (65 mi) before it joins the mighty Brahmaputra River at Jogighopa. Another major tributary of the Manas, the Aie River joins it in Assam at Bangpari.
The Raidāk River, also called Wang Chhu or Wong Chhu in Bhutan, is a tributary of the River Brahmaputra, and a trans-boundary river. It flows through Bhutan, India and Bangladesh. It is one of the main river in Alipurduar District, India.
The Jigme Dorji National Park (JDNP), named after the late Jigme Dorji Wangchuck, is the second-largest National Park of Bhutan. It occupies almost the entire Gasa District, as well as the northern areas of Thimphu District, Paro District, Punakha, and Wangdue Phodrang Districts. It was established in 1974 and stretches over an area of 4316 km², thereby spanning all three climate zones of Bhutan, ranging in elevation from 1400 to over 7000 meters. About 6,500 people in 1,000 households live within the park, from subsistence agriculture and animal husbandry. It is listed as a tentative site in Bhutan's Tentative List for UNESCO inclusion.
The Punakha Dzong, also known as Pungthang Dewa chhenbi Phodrang, is the administrative centre of Punakha District in Punakha, Bhutan. Constructed by Ngawang Namgyal, 1st Zhabdrung Rinpoche, in 1637–38, it is the second oldest and second-largest dzong in Bhutan and one of its most majestic structures. The dzong houses the sacred relics of the southern Drukpa Lineage of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism, including the Rangjung Kharsapani and the sacred remains of Ngawang Namgyal and the tertön Pema Lingpa.
The Ha Chhu is a river in west-central Bhutan, it is a tributary of the Raidak River.
The Tang Chuu is a tributary of the Mo Chhu in western Bhutan.
This is a list of the extreme points of Bhutan.
The valleys of Bhutan are carved into the Himalaya by Bhutan's rivers, fed by glacial melt and monsoon rains. As Bhutan is landlocked in the mountainous eastern Himalaya, much of its population is concentrated in valleys and lowlands, separated by rugged southward spurs of the Inner Himalaya. Despite modernization and development of transport in Bhutan, including a national highway system, travel from one valley to the next remains difficult. Western valleys are bound to the east by the Black Mountains in central Bhutan, which form a watershed between two major river systems, the Mo Chhu and the Drangme Chhu. Central valleys are separated from the east by the Donga Range. The more isolated mountain valleys protect several tiny, distinct cultural and linguistic groups. Reflecting this isolation, most valleys have their own local protector deities.
The mountains of Bhutan are some of the most prominent natural geographic features of the kingdom. Located on the southern end of the Eastern Himalaya, Bhutan has one of the most rugged mountain terrains in the world, whose elevations range from 160 metres (520 ft) to more than 7,000 metres (23,000 ft) above sea level, in some cases within distances of less than 100 kilometres (62 mi) of each other. Bhutan's highest peak, at 7,570 metres (24,840 ft) above sea level, is north-central Gangkhar Puensum, close to the border with Tibet; the third highest peak, Jomolhari, overlooking the Chumbi Valley in the west, is 7,314 metres (23,996 ft) above sea level; nineteen other peaks exceed 7,000 metres (23,000 ft). Weather is extreme in the mountains: the high peaks have perpetual snow, and the lesser mountains and hewn gorges have high winds all year round, making them barren brown wind tunnels in summer, and frozen wastelands in winter. The blizzards generated in the north each winter often drift southward into the central highlands.
Pho Chhu is one of the major rivers of Bhutan, which tracks its source in the Gasa District that borders Bhutan with Tibet, which joins with Mo Chhu at the confluence below Punakha Dzong, the winter resident of Dratshang Lhentshog. Upon Dang Chhu joining below Wangdue Dzong, the trio flows as Puna Tsang Chhu and finally empties in the Brahmaputra, upon being joined by several tributaries on its course in the valley of Assam. Its source is susceptible to glaciers which even destroyed a part of Punakha Dzong.
