| People
of Bhutan
 The
people of Bhutan are called Drukpas,
derived from the name of the country, DRUK YUL, land of the
Thunder Dragon. The Drukpas consist of a variety of ethnicity
who are mainly categorized into three broad ethnic groups.
The Sharchops are believed to be the earliest
inhabitants of Bhutan. Apparently Indo-Mongoloid
in origin, the question of their exact origin or how they reached
Bhutan, remains unsolved. Today the Sharchops live largely in
the eastern regions. The second group, known as the Ngalops,
are the descendants of Tibetan immigrants who migrated to Bhutan
since the ninth century onwards, settling primarily in the west.
The third section of the population are the nepalese, who began
to settle in the south towards the end of the nineteenth century.
 Rugged,
mountainous terrain and extremes of climate have made the Bhutanese
a hardy, well-built people, accustomed to hard work. Despite
the strong martial spirit which has enabled them to retain their
national independence and sovereignty over the centuries, they
are peaceful and fun-loving.
As much as 85% of Bhutan's population live
on subsistence farming, scattered throughout the countryside
in sparsely populated villages across rugged mountainous terrain.
In the lower valleys rice remains the staple diet whereas maize,
wheat, buckwheat are more common in higher valleys. The people
farm on narrow terraces cut into the slopes of the mountains.
Topography largely determines the settlement patterns. |
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