Nepal measures about 800 kilometers east to west and 100 to 200 kilometers north to south. With 147,181 square kilometers it slightly outranks
Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a country in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
or the state of
ArkansasArkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquin name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares a border with six states, with its eastern border largely defined by the Mississippi River. Its diverse geography ranges from the mountainous regions of the...
. Nepal is landlocked by India on three sides and China's Xizang Autonomous Region (
TibetTibet is a plateau region in Asia, north of the Himalayas. It is home to the indigenous Tibetan people, and to some other ethnic groups such as Monpas and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han Chinese people. Tibet is the highest region on earth, with an average...
) to the north.
West BengalWest Bengal is a state in eastern India. With Bangladesh, which lies on its eastern border, the state forms the ethno-linguistic region of Bengal. To its northeast lie the states of Assam and Sikkim and the country Bhutan, and to its southwest, the state of Orissa...
's narrow Siliguri Corridor or Chicken's Neck separate Nepal and
Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a country in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
. To the east are
SikkimSikkim is a landlocked Indian state nestled in the Himalayas. It is the least populous state in India and the second-smallest in area after Goa. The thumb-shaped state borders Nepal in the west, the Tibet Autonomous Region of China to the north and the east and Bhutan in the southeast...
-- presently part of India -- and
BhutanThe Kingdom of Bhutan is a landlocked nation in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalaya Mountains and is bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by People's Republic of China. Bhutan is separated from the nearby state of Nepal to the west by...
. Nepal depends on India for transit facilities and access to the sea -- the Bay of Bengal -- even for most goods imported from China.
Geographic coordinates:
The Land
For a small country, Nepal has tremendous geographic diversity. It rises from less than 100 meters elevation in the tropical Terai -- the northern rim of the Gangetic Plain past the perpetual snow line to some 90 peaks over 7,000 meters including 8,848 meter
Mount EverestMount Everest – also called Sagarmāthā , Chomolungma or Qomolangma or Zhumulangma – is the highest mountain on Earth, and the highest point on the Earth's crust, as measured by the height above sea level of its summit,...
or
Sagarmatha. North of the Himalaya, Nepal extends to the fringes of the high and arid Tibetan Plateau.
Nepal can be divided into three east-west physiographic belts: Terai, Hill and Mountain Regions. It is also divided into three major river systems, from east to west:
KoshiThe Kosi River, called Koshi in Nepal , is a transboundary river between Nepal and India, and is one of the largest tributaries of the Ganges. The river, along with its tributaries, drains a total area of up to its confluence with the Ganges in India...
, Gandaki/Narayani and Karnali, all tributaries of the
GangesThe Ganges is one of the major rivers of the Indian subcontinent, flowing east through the Gangetic Plain of northern India into Bangladesh. The river rises in the western Himalayas in the Uttarakhand state of India, and drains into the Sunderbans delta in the Bay of Bengal...
. The Ganges-
BrahmaputraThe Brahmaputra, also called Tsangpo-Brahmaputra, is a trans-boundary river and one of the major rivers of Asia.From its origin in southwestern Tibet as the Yarlung Zangbo River, it flows across southern Tibet to break through the Himalayas in great gorges and into Arunachal Pradesh where it is...
watershed largely coincides with the Nepal-Tibet border, however several tributaries of these rivers rise beyond the border in Tibet.
The Terai Region
The
TeraiThe Terai , is a belt of marshy grasslands, savannas, and forests at the base of the Himalaya range in India, Nepal, and Bhutan, from the Yamuna River in the west to the Brahmaputra River in the east...
or
MadheshMadhesh is a term given to areas of the Nepali outer Terai or to the outer Terai as a whole inhabited by peoples who are racially, culturally and linguistically related to people on the Indian side of the border. These peoples are referred to or refer to themselves as Madheshi...
region begins at the Indian border and includes the northermost part of the flat, intensively farmed Gangetic Plain called the
Outer Terai. This is culturally an extension of northern India with
HindiStandard Hindi, also known as High Hindi, Nagari Hindi or Literary Hindi is a standardised register of Hindi. It is one of the 22 languages with official status in India, and is used, along with English, for administration of the central government.Standard Hindi is a sanskritised register derived...
, Awadhi, Bhojpuri and
MaithiliMaithili may refer to:* Maithili language* Maithili script* Maithili Sharan Gupt , an eminent Hindi poet...
spoken more than
NepaliNepali is a language in the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family.It is official language and de facto lingua franca of Nepal and is also spoken in Bhutan, parts of India and parts of Myanmar...
, however it was annexed to Nepal by conquest and by treaty with the British.
The Outer Terai ends at the first range of foothills called the Siwaliks. This range has a forested alluvial belt along its base, marshy with springs fed by groundwater percolating down from higher elevations. Before the use of DDT the alluvial zone was dangerously infested with malaria. Nepal's rulers used it as a defensive frontier called the
char kose jhadi (twelve kilometer forest).
Beyond the alluvial belt, the Siwaliks rise as high as 1,000 meters, steeper on their southern flanks because of faults known as the
Main Frontal Thrust. This range is composed of poorly consolidated, coarse sediments that quickly absorb rainfall with poor soild development so there is little population. However in several places north of the Siwaliks there are
dun valleys or the
Inner TeraiThe phrase Inner Terai Valleys or Bhitri tarai refers to various elongated valleys in Nepal lying between the Himalayan foothills, the 600-900 metre high Chure or Siwalak Range, and the 2,000-3,000 metre high Mahabharat Range further north. Major examples are the Chitwan Valley southwest of...
with more fertile soil. Among these are Surkhet, Dang and Deukhuri in western Nepal and the Rapti Valley (Chitwan) in central Nepal. Population in these valleys was historically limited by malaria and mainly limited to the Tharu ethnic group that had developed genetic resistance. Around 1960 DDT came into use to suppress mosquitos and the way was open to settlement from the land-poor hills to the detriment of Tharus.
The Terai ends and the Hills begin at a higher range of foothills called the
Mahabharat RangeThe Mahabharat Lekh or Range is a major east-west mountain range with elevations 1,500 to 2,700 meters along the crest, paralleling the much higher Great Himalaya range from the Indus River in Pakistan across northern India, Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan but then the two ranges become increasingly...
.
The Hill Region
Situated south of the Mountain Region, the Hill Region (
Pahar in Nepali) is mostly between 700 and 4,000 meters altitude. This region begins at the
Mahabharat LekhThe Mahabharat Lekh or Range is a major east-west mountain range with elevations 1,500 to 2,700 meters along the crest, paralleling the much higher Great Himalaya range from the Indus River in Pakistan across northern India, Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan but then the two ranges become increasingly...
(Lesser Himalaya) where a fault system called the
Main Boundary Thrust creates an escarpment 1,000 to 1,500 meters high, to a crest between 1,500 and 2,700 meters. These steep southern slopes are nearly uninhabited, thus an effective buffer between languages and culture in the Terai and Hill regions. Northern slopes are gentler and moderately well populated.
North of this range, rice-growing, Nepali-speaking Hindus and Newar merchants who also speak Newari densely populate valleys as high as 2,000 meters. The increasingly urbanized Kathmandu and Pokhara valleys fall within this region. Indigenous "janajati" ethnic groups -- natively speaking highly localized Tibeto-Burman languages and dialects -- popuulate hillsides up to about 3,000 meters. This group includes Magar and
Kham MagarKham Magar is a minority ethnic group in Nepal, living in highland areas of Rapti Zone and in adjacent parts of Bheri, Dhaulagiri and Karnali Zones....
west of Pokhara,
GurungThe Gurung is an ethnic group from the Central region of Nepal. They live primarily in West Nepal’s Gandaki zone, specifically Lamjung, Kaski, Tanahu, Gorkha, Parbat and Syangja districts as well as the Manang district around the Annapurna mountain range. Some live in the Baglung, Okhaldhunga and...
south of the Annapurnas, Thamang around the periphery of
Kathmandu ValleyThe Kathmandu Valley , located in Nepal, lies at the crossroads of ancient civilizations of Asia, and has at least 130 important monuments, including several places of pilgrimage for the Hindus and the Buddhists.-Etymology:...
and
RaiThe Rai, also known as the Khambu. They are one of Nepal's most ancient indigenous ethnolinguistic groups. The Rai belong to the Kirati group or the Kirat confederation that includes the Limbu, the Sunuwar, Yakkha Dhimal, Koche, Meche,Hayu ethnic groups.According to Professor Dor Bahadur Bista...
and
LimbLimbu tribe and clans belong to the Kirati nation or Kirat confederation that includes the Rai and Sunuwar who are believed to be the descendants of the ancient Mongolian-Tibeto people and are still known as "Mongolians" in Nepal....
further east. Upland staple crops are
maizeMaize , is a herbaceous plant domesticated in Mesoamerica and subsequently spread throughout the American continents...
,
milletThe millets are a group of small-seeded species of cereal crops or grains, widely grown around the world for food and fodder. They do not form a taxonomic group, but rather a functional or agronomic one. Their essential similarities are that they are small-seeded grasses grown in difficult...
,
barleyBarley is a cereal grain derived from the annual grass Hordeum vulgare. It serves as a major animal feed crop, with smaller amounts used for malting and in health food. It is used in soups, stews and barley bread in various countries, such as Scotland and in Africa...
and
potatoThe potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species. Potatoes are the world's fourth largest food...
es rather than
riceRice is the seed of a monocot plant Oryza sativa, of the grass family . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East, South, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and the West Indies...
. Temperate and subtropical fruits are grown as cash crops.
MarijuanaCannabisalso known as marijuana or marihuana, and ganja , among many other namesrefers to any number of preparations of the Cannabis plant intended for use as a psychoactive drug...
is grown and processed into
CharasCharas is the name given to hand-made hashish in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal and India.It is made from the extract of the cannabis plant...
(
hashishHashish is a preparation of cannabis composed of the compressed stalked resin glands called trichomes, collected from the cannabis plant. It contains the same active ingredients but in higher concentrations than other parts of the plant such as the buds or the leaves...
), but less than was produced before international pressure persuaded the government to outlaw it in the 1970s. There is increasing reliance on animal husbandry with elevation, using land above 3,000 meters for summer grazing and moving herds of sheep and goats to lower elevations in winter. Except for the rice-growing lower valleys, hill populations suffer chronic food deficits. Many menfolk find employment in the Terai, in India or overseas to earn cash for imported grain. The Hill region ends dramatically where the main Himalayan Range abruptly rises thousands of meters.
The Mountain Region
The Mountain Region (
Parbat in Nepali) abruptly rises into the zone of perpetual snow along the
Main Central Thust fault zone. South of this fault system, "hills" do not greatly exceed treeline at about 3,500 meters. North of it the Himalayas rise as a virtual wall beyond the snowline at 5,000 to 5,500 meters to some 90 peaks over 7,000 meters (22,965') and eight exceeding 8,000 meters (26,246') including
Mount EverestMount Everest – also called Sagarmāthā , Chomolungma or Qomolangma or Zhumulangma – is the highest mountain on Earth, and the highest point on the Earth's crust, as measured by the height above sea level of its summit,...
at 8,848 meters and Kanchenjunga at 8,598 meters. Unlike the Mahabharats, the Himalaya are not continuous across Nepal. Instead there are some 20 subranges including the Kanchenjunga massif, Kumbu around Mt. Everest. Langtang north of Kathmandu,
AnnapurnaAnnapurna is a series of peaks in the Himalayas, a -long massif of which the highest point, Annapurna I, stands at 8091m, making it the 10th-highest summit in the world and one of the 14 "eight-thousanders". It is located east of a great gorge cut through the Himalayas by the Kali Gandaki River,...
north of
PokharaPokhara Sub-Metropolitan City is a city of close to 200,000 inhabitants in central Nepal located at 28.25°N, 83.99°E, 198 km west of Kathmandu. It is the third largest city of Nepal after Kathmandu and Biratnagar. It is the Headquarters of Kaski District, Gandaki Zone and the Western...
and
DhaulagiriDhaulagiri is the seventh highest mountain in the world. It forms the eastern anchor of the Dhaulagiri Himal, a subrange of the Himalaya in the Dhawalagiri Zone of north central Nepal. It lies northwest of Pokhara, an important regional town and tourist center...
further west and Kanjiroba north of
JumlaJumla can refer to a number of subjects*Mir Jumla, a prominent subahdar of Bengal*Jumla District, one of the seventy-five districts of Nepal*Jumla - a town in Nepal....
.
Alpine, often semi-arid valleys -- including Humla, Jumla,
Mustang-Aircraft:* Cessna Citation Mustang, a modern business jet which is currently the smallest model in the Cessna Citation range* Mustang Aeronautics Midget Mustang, a homebuilt sportsplane...
,
ManangManang is a town in the Manang District of Nepal. It is located at 28°40'0N 84°1'0E with an altitude of 3519 metres .At the time of the 1991 Nepal census it had a population of 391 people residing in 120 individual households....
and
KhumbuKhumbu is one of three subregions of the main Sherpa settlement of the Himalaya, the other two being Solu and Pharak. Khumbu is part of the Solukhumbu district located in northeastern Nepal on the Nepalese side of Mount Everest and includes the town of Namche Bazaar as well as the villages of...
-- cut between himalayan subranges or lie north of them. They are lightly populated by people with
TibetanThe Tibetan people are indigenous to Tibet and surrounding areas stretching from Central Asia in the North and West to Myanmar and China Proper in the East and India, Nepal and Bhutan to the south.-Demographics:...
affinities called
BhotiyaThe Bhotiya are an ethno-linguistic group of people living in the trans-Himalayan region that divides India from Tibet. They are closely related to the Tibetans and Those living in Uttarakhand are generally referred to as Bhotiya, although they are sometimes also referred to as Bhutia; Bhutia more...
or BhutiaThe Bhutias are ethnic Tibetan who speak a Tibetan Dialect fairly mutually intelligible to standard Tibetan. Their ancester migrated to Sikkim, other parts of India and Bhutan some time after the 15th century. They migrated through the different passes in the Himalayas...
including the famous
SherpasThe Sherpa are an ethnic group from the most mountainous region of Nepal, high in the Himalayas...
in the Kumbu valley near Mount Everest. These people traditionally grazed yaks, grew cold-tolerant crops such as potatoes, barley and millet, and traded across the mountains, e.g. Tibetan salt for rice from lowlands in Nepal and India. Since the 1950s these mountain peoples have also found work as high altitude porters, guides, cooks and other accessories to tourism and alpinism.
Bhote language and culture extend north into Tibet proper, with the international border following the Himalayan crest in eastern Nepal. In central and western Nepal the border mostly follows the watershed between the Ganges and
Brahmaputra RiverThe Brahmaputra, also called Tsangpo-Brahmaputra, is a trans-boundary river and one of the major rivers of Asia.From its origin in southwestern Tibet as the Yarlung Zangbo River, it flows across southern Tibet to break through the Himalayas in great gorges and into Arunachal Pradesh where it is...
basins along (~6,000 meter) ranges tens of kilometers north of the highest peaks.
Climate
Nepal has a great deal of variation in climate. Its latitude is about the same as that of Florida, so the low elevation Terai has a tropical and subtropical climate. Above the Terai, the climate is completely different due to higher elevations. The east-west-trending Himalayan ranges to the north and the monsoonal alteration of wet and dry seasons also contribute to local variations in climate. Scholar Sharad Singh Negi identifies five climatic zones in Nepal based on altitude: a tropical and subtropical zone below 1,200 meters (the frost limit in winter), a cool temperate zone between 1,200 and 2,400 meters (where there is at least occasional snowfall in winter), a cold zone between 2,400 and 3,600 meters (tree line), a subarctic zone from 3,600 to 4,400 meters, and an arctic zone above 4,400 meters.
In terms of natural vegetational regimes or distribution patterns, altitude again plays a significant role. Below 1,200 meters, the dominant form of vegetation consists of tropical and subtropical forests that have evolved in response to the monsoonal climate. Altitude also affects annual rainfall or precipitation patterns. Up to about 3,000 meters, annual rainfall totals increase with elevation, but above this they decrease with elevation and latitude. Two other patterns can be discerned. First, given the northwestward movement of the moisture-laden summer monsoon (June to September), the amount of annual rainfall generally decreases from east to west, although there are exceptional areas such as the
PokharaPokhara Sub-Metropolitan City is a city of close to 200,000 inhabitants in central Nepal located at 28.25°N, 83.99°E, 198 km west of Kathmandu. It is the third largest city of Nepal after Kathmandu and Biratnagar. It is the Headquarters of Kaski District, Gandaki Zone and the Western...
Valley in Central Nepal with higher rainfall due to generally lower "hills" to the south and the main Himalayan Range immediately to the north that stops the northward passage of moist air. Second, adabiatic effects increase rainfall on south- and east-facing mountain slopes, with a rain shadow on northern sides. This reaches its climax in the inner Himalayan region and on the Tibetan Plateau. Eastern Nepal receives approximately 2,500 millimeters of rain annually, the Kathmandu area gets about 1,400 millimeters, and western Nepal about 1,000 millimeters.
The towering Himalayas play a critical role, blocking the northwesterly advances of moist, tropical air from the Bay of Bengal, and ultimately leading to its conversion to rain in the summer. In the winter, this range prevents the outbursts of cold air from Inner Asia from reaching southern Nepal and northern India, thus ensuring warmer winters in these regions than otherwise would be the case.
In addition, there are seasonal variations in the amount of rainfall, depending on the monsoon cycle. Bishop divides the monsoon cycle into four seasons: premonsoon, summer monsoon, postmonsoon, and winter monsoon. The premonsoon season generally occurs during April and May; it is characterized by the highest temperatures, reaching 40 °C during the day in the Terai Region and other lowlands. The hills and mountains, however, remain cool.
The summer monsoon, a strong flow of moist air from the southwest, follows the premonsoon season. For the vast majority of southern Asians, including Nepalese, the term monsoon is synonymous with the summer rainy season, which makes or breaks the lives of hundreds of millions of farmers on the subcontinent. Even though the arrival of the summer monsoon can vary by as much as a month, in Nepal it generally arrives in early June, is preceded by violent lightning and thunderstorms, and lasts through September, when it begins to recede. The plains and lower Himalayas receive more than 70% of their annual precipitation during the summer monsoon. The amount of summer monsoon rain generally declines from southeast to northwest as the maritime wedge of air gradually becomes thinner and dryer. Although the success of farming is almost totally dependent on the timely arrival of the summer monsoon, it periodically causes such problems as landslides; subsequent losses of human lives, farmlands, and other properties (not to mention great difficulty in the movement of goods and people); and heavy flooding in the plains. Conversely, when prolonged breaks in the summer monsoon occur, severe drought and famine often result.
The postmonsoon season begins with a slow withdrawal of the monsoon. This retreat leads to an almost complete disappearance of moist air by mid-October, thus ushering in generally cool, clear, and dry weather, as well as the most relaxed and jovial period in Nepal. By this time, the harvest is completed and people are in a festive mood. The two biggest and most important Hindu festivals-- Dashain and Tihar (Dipawali)--arrive during this period, about one month apart. The postmonsoon season lasts until about December.
After the
postmonsoon, comes the winter monsoon, a strong northeasterly flow, which is marked by occasional, short rainfalls in the lowlands and plains and snowfalls in the high-altitude areas. The amount of precipitation resulting from the northeast land trade winds varies considerably but increases markedly with elevation. The secondary winter precipitation in the form of snowfalls in the Himalayas is important for generating a sufficient volume of spring and summer meltwaters, which are critical for irrigation in the lower hills and valleys where agriculture predominates. Winter precipitation is also are indispensable for the success of winter crops, such as wheat, barley, and numerous vegetables.
River system
Nepal has three categories of rivers. The largest river systems -- from east to west
KoshiThe Kosi River, called Koshi in Nepal , is a transboundary river between Nepal and India, and is one of the largest tributaries of the Ganges. The river, along with its tributaries, drains a total area of up to its confluence with the Ganges in India...
, Gandaki/Narayani, Karnali/Goghra and
MahakaliSarda River forms part of the border between the nations of India and Nepal. It is called the Mahakali River in Nepal and Kali Gad by local pahari people . This boundary was established by the 1816 Sugauli treaty, but a portion of this border near China has been in dispute...
-- originate in or beyond the high Himalaya and maintain substantial flows from glacial melting even during the hot, droughty spring before the summer monsoon. These largest rivers cross the mountains in deep gorges before emerging onto the plains.
Second category rivers rise in the Middle Hills and Mahabharat Range, from east to west the Mechi, Kankai and Kamala south of the Kosi; the
BagmatiBagmati is a river of Nepal. It flows through the Kathmandu valley and is the river separating Kathmandu from Lalitpur. It is considered a holy river both by Hindus and Buddhists...
that drains
Kathmandu ValleyThe Kathmandu Valley , located in Nepal, lies at the crossroads of ancient civilizations of Asia, and has at least 130 important monuments, including several places of pilgrimage for the Hindus and the Buddhists.-Etymology:...
between the Kosi and Gandaki systems, then the West Rapti and the Babai between the Gandaki and Karnali systems. Without glacial sources, annual flow regimes are more variable although limited flow persists through the dry season.
Third category rivers rise in the outermost Siwalik foothills and are mostly seasonal.
All three categories are capable of causing serious floods, for example the West Rapti in the second category is called "
GorakhpurGorakhpur is a city in the eastern part of the state of Uttar Pradesh in India, near the border with Nepal. It is the administrative headquarters of Gorakhpur District and Gorakhpur Division and of Baba Gorakshanath...
's Sorrow" for its history of urban flooding. Koshi River in the first category caused a major flood in
August 2008The 2008 Bihar flood, which is one of the worst floods in the history of the Indian state of Bihar, occurred due to a breach in the Kosi embankment near Indo-Nepal border on August 18, 2008. The river changed its course and inundated areas which hadn't experienced floods in last many decades....
in
BiharBihar is a state in eastern India. Bihar is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size at 38,202 sq mi , and 3rd largest by population. Close to 85 percent of the population lives in villages...
state, India after breaking through a poorly-maintained embankment just inside Nepal. Uplift and erosion are in rough equilibrium throughout the Himalaya, so rapid uplift is balanced by huge amounts of sediments washing down and settling out of suspension on the plains in vast alluvial fans over which rivers meander and change course at least every few decades, causing some experts to question whether manmade structures can truly contain the problem of flooding. Traditional
MithilaMithila was a city in Ancient India, the capital of the Videha Kingdom. The name Mithila is also commonly used to refer to the Videha Kingdom itself, as well as to the modern-day territories that fall within the ancient boundaries of Videha...
culture along the lower Koshi in Nepal and Bihar celebrated the river as the giver of life for its fertile alluvial soil, yet also the taker of life through its catastrophic floods.
In the first category, the Koshi is also called Sapta Koshi for its seven Himalayan tributaries: Indrawati, Bhote Koshi, Tama Koshi, Dudh Koshi, Liku,
ArunThe Arun River is a river that flows through Nepal, Tibet and China, becoming a tributary of the Ganges. It is one of the principal tributaries of the Kosi River . The Saptakoshi River is the main water source of the Kosi River, the principal source of water for the Kosi River Basin. The Arun River...
, and Tamor. The Arun rises about 150 kilometers iinside
TibetTibet is a plateau region in Asia, north of the Himalayas. It is home to the indigenous Tibetan people, and to some other ethnic groups such as Monpas and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han Chinese people. Tibet is the highest region on earth, with an average...
.
The Gandaki/Narayani also has seven Himalayan tributaries: Daraudi, Seti, Madi, Kali, Marsyandi, Budhi, and Trisuli. The Kali Gandaki flows between the 8,000 meter Dhaulagiri and Annapurna ranges in the
world's deepest valleyThe Kali Gandaki Gorge or Andha Galchi is the gorge of the Kali Gandaki in the Himalayas in Nepal, by some measures the deepest gorge in the world....
.
The Karnali drains western Nepal, with the Bheri and Seti as major tributaries. The upper Karnali rises inside Tibet near sacred
Lake Manasarovar Manasa Sarovar or Lake Manas or Lake Manasa Sarovar is a fresh-water lake in Tibet Autonomous Region of China from Lhasa. To the west of Lake Manasa Sarovar is Lake Rakshastal and towards the north is Mount Kailash, known in Tibetan as Khang Rinpoche...
and
Mount KailashMount Kailash is a peak in the Gangdisê Mountains, which are part of the Himalayas in Tibet...
. The area around these two features forms the hydrographic nexus of
South AsiaSouth Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries on the west and the east...
by containing the sources of the
IndusThe Indus River is the longest river in...
,
SutlejThe Sutlej River is the longest of the five rivers that flow through the historic crossroad region of Punjab in northern India and Pakistan...
, Ganges tributary Karnali and
BrahmaputraThe Brahmaputra, also called Tsangpo-Brahmaputra, is a trans-boundary river and one of the major rivers of Asia.From its origin in southwestern Tibet as the Yarlung Zangbo River, it flows across southern Tibet to break through the Himalayas in great gorges and into Arunachal Pradesh where it is...
. It is the center of the universe according to
traditional cosmographyMount Meru is a sacred mountain in Hindu, Buddhist cosmology, and Jain mythology, and is considered to be the center of all the physical, metaphysical and spiritual universes. It is believed to be the abode of Lord Brahma and the Demi-Gods .The mountain is said to be 84,000 Yojanas high...
. The Mahakali or Kali along the Nepal-India border on the west joins the Karnali in India.
These rivers offer great possibilities for hydroelectric and irrigation development, but Nepal has not yet made extensive use of these other than a few projects such as on on the Kali Gandaki north of
TansenTansen is a town in the Palpa District of Nepal. It is located at 27°52'0N 83°32'60E with an altitude of 1090 metres .The former capital of the Magar Kingdom of Tanahun, Tansen is a romantic medieval hill town, perched high above the Kali Gandaki River on the road between Butwal and Pokhara...
. Building dams in Nepal is controversial because of risk of earthquakes. None of the river systems support significant commercial navigation. Instead, deep gorges create obstacles to establishing transport and communication networks and de-fragmenting the economy. Foot-trails are still primary transportation routes in many hill districts.
Area and boundaries
Area:
- Total: 147,181 km²
- Land: 143,181 km²
- Water: 4,000 km²
Area - comparative:
- Roughly 1⅔ Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is located south of the eastern side of the continent, from which it is separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania – the 26th largest island in the world – and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 500,000 ,...
's size
- Roughly twice New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only constitutionally bilingual province in the confederation. The provincial capital is Fredericton...
's size
- Slightly less than twice Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
's size
- Slightly larger than Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquin name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares a border with six states, with its eastern border largely defined by the Mississippi River. Its diverse geography ranges from the mountainous regions of the...
Land boundaries:
- Total: 2,926 km
- Border countries: China
China is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
1,236 km, IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
1,690 km
Coastline:
- 0 km (landlocked)
Maritime claims:
- None (landlocked)
Elevation extremes:
- Lowest point: Kanchan Kalan 70 m
- Highest point: Sagarmatha (Mount Everest
Mount Everest – also called Sagarmāthā , Chomolungma or Qomolangma or Zhumulangma – is the highest mountain on Earth, and the highest point on the Earth's crust, as measured by the height above sea level of its summit,...
) 8,848 m
Resources and land use
Natural resources:
- Quartz, water, timber, hydropower, scenic beauty, small deposits of lignite, copper, cobalt, iron ore
Land use:
- Arable land: 21.68%
- Permanent crops: 0.64%
- Other: 77.68% (2001)
Irrigated land:
- 11,350 km² (1998 est.)
Forests
25.4% of Nepal's land area, or about 36,360 km² (14,039 mi²) is covered with forest according to FAO figures from 2005. FAO estimates that around 9.6% of Nepal's forest cover consists of "primary forest" which is relatively intact. About 12.1% Nepal's forest is classified as "protected" while about 21.4% is "conserved" according to FAO. About 5.1% Nepal's forests are classified as "production forest." Between 2000-2005, Nepal lost about 2640 km² of forest. Nepal's 2000-2005 total deforestation rate was about 1.4% per year meaning it lost an average of 530 km² of forest annually. Nepal's total deforestation rate from 1990-2000 was 920 km² or 2.1% per year. The 2000-2005 true deforestation rate in Nepal, defined as the loss of primary forest, is -0.4% or 70 km² per year.
Environmental concerns
Natural hazards:
- Severe thunderstorms, flooding, landslides, drought, and famine depending on the timing, intensity, and duration of the summer monsoon
A pennis is traditionally defined as a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by seasonal changes in precipitation, but now is used to describe seasonal changes atmospheric circulation and precipitation The major monsoon systems of the world consist of the African and Asia-Australian monsoons...
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Environment - current issues:
- Deforestation (overuse of wood for fuel and lack of alternatives); contaminated water (with human and animal wastes, agricultural runoff, and industrial effluents); wildlife conservation; vehicular emissions; High arsenic and microbiological levels in groundwater
Environment - international agreements:
- Party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands
- Signed, but not ratified: Marine Life Conservation
Geography - note:
- Landlocked; strategic location between China and India; contains eight of world's 10 highest peaks
External links