Mustang (kingdom)
Encyclopedia
Mustang is the former Kingdom of Lo and now part of Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...

, in the north-central part of that country, bordering the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

 on the Tibetan plateau
Tibetan Plateau
The Tibetan Plateau , also known as the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau is a vast, elevated plateau in Central Asia covering most of the Tibet Autonomous Region and Qinghai, in addition to smaller portions of western Sichuan, southwestern Gansu, and northern Yunnan in Western China and Ladakh in...

 between the Nepalese provinces of Dolpo
Dolpo
Dolpo is a high-altitude culturally Tibetan region in the upper part of the Dolpa District of western Nepal, bordered in the north by the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. Part of the region lies in Shey Phoksundo National Park...

 and Manang
Manang
Manang is a town in the Manang District of Nepal. It is located at 28°40'0N 84°1'0E with an altitude of . At the time of the 1991 Nepal census it had a population of 391 people living in 120 individual households....

. The culture is Tibetan Buddhist.

The Kingdom of Lo, the traditional Mustang region, and “Upper Mustang” are one and the same, comprising the northern two-thirds of the present-day Nepalese Mustang District
Mustang District
Mustang District, a part of Dhawalagiri Zone, is one of the seventy-five districts of Nepal, a landlocked country of South Asia. The district, with Jomsom as its headquarters, covers an area of 3,573 km² and has a population of 14,981....

, and are well marked by official “Mustang” border signs just north of Kagbeni
Kagbeni
Kagbeni is a 2008 Nepali movie, loosely based on W. W. Jacobs's 1902 horror short story The Monkey's Paw. Kagbeni is the directorial debut of Bhusan Dahal...

 where a police post checks permits for non-Nepalese seeking to enter the region, and at Gyu La (pass) east of Kagbeni.

Life in Mustang revolves around tourism, animal husbandry
Animal husbandry
Animal husbandry is the agricultural practice of breeding and raising livestock.- History :Animal husbandry has been practiced for thousands of years, since the first domestication of animals....

 and trade. Except for a 9-km portion from Chhusang
Chhusang
Chhusang is a village development committee in Mustang District in the Dhawalagiri Zone of northern Nepal. At the time of the 1991 Nepal census it had a population of 860 people living in 195 individual households.-External links:*...

 to Syangboche (just south of Ghiling (Geling)), as of August 2010, it is bisected by a new road linking it to the Tibet Autonomous Region
Tibet Autonomous Region
The Tibet Autonomous Region , Tibet or Xizang for short, also called the Xizang Autonomous Region is a province-level autonomous region of the People's Republic of China , created in 1965....

 (TAR) to the north and to the rest of Nepal to the south. Plans call for the final nine km portion to be completed in just a few years' time, which will provide, with a high point of 4660 m at Kora La on the Mustang-TAR border, the lowest drivable corridor through the Himalayas linking the Tibetan Plateau via Nepal to the tropical Indian plains. (The easiest and only widely used road corridor, from Kathmandu to Lhasa
Lhasa
Lhasa is the administrative capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China and the second most populous city on the Tibetan Plateau, after Xining. At an altitude of , Lhasa is one of the highest cities in the world...

 via the Arniko Rajmarg
Arniko Rajmarg
The Araniko Highway connects Kathmandu with Kodari, north-east of the Kathmandu Valley, on the Nepal-China border. It is among the most dangerous of highways in Nepal due to extremely steep slopes on each side of the highway from Barabise onwards, massive landslides and bus plunges are not...

 (or Arniko Highway), traverses a 5125 m pass.)

The Kingdom was overthrown in 2008 following the overthrow of its suzerain Kingdom of Nepal the same year.

The influence of the outside world, and especially China, is growing and contributing to rapid change in the lives of Mustang's people.

Climate

Mustang is largely dry and arid with annual precipitation
Precipitation (meteorology)
In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation (also known as one of the classes of hydrometeors, which are atmospheric water phenomena is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation...

 in the range of 250–400 mm due to its position in the rain shadow
Rain shadow
A rain shadow is a dry area on the lee side of a mountainous area. The mountains block the passage of rain-producing weather systems, casting a "shadow" of dryness behind them. As shown by the diagram to the right, the warm moist air is "pulled" by the prevailing winds over a mountain...

 of the Annapurna
Annapurna
Annapurna is a section of the Himalayas in north-central Nepal that includes Annapurna I, thirteen additional peaks over and 16 more over ....

 massif and the Dhaulagiri Range
Dhaulagiri
Dhaulagiri is Earth's seventh highest mountain at ; one of fourteen over eight thousand metres. Dhaulagiri was first climbed May 13, 1960 by a Swiss/Austrian expedition....

 towards the south.

Demographics

The population of Mustang District
Mustang District
Mustang District, a part of Dhawalagiri Zone, is one of the seventy-five districts of Nepal, a landlocked country of South Asia. The district, with Jomsom as its headquarters, covers an area of 3,573 km² and has a population of 14,981....

 in 2001 was 14,981, spread between three towns and approximately thirty smaller settlements; the people are either Thakali
Thakali
The Thakali are ethnolinguistic group originated from the Thak Khola region of the Mustang District in the Dhaulagiri zone of Nepal. Thakali, like Mutanggi their ancestors, culture and traditions are traced back to ancient himalayan region...

s, Gurung
Gurung
The Gurung people, also called Tamu, are an ethnic group that migrated from Mongolia in the 6th century to the central region of Nepal. Gurungs, like other east Asian featured peoples of Nepal such as Sherpa, Tamang, Thakali, Magar, Manaaggi, Mustaaggi, and Walunggi, are the indigenous people of...

 or, in traditional Mustang, primarily Tibetan
Tibetan people
The Tibetan people are an ethnic group that is native to Tibet, which is mostly in the People's Republic of China. They number 5.4 million and are the 10th largest ethnic group in the country. Significant Tibetan minorities also live in India, Nepal, and Bhutan...

.

Most of the population of Mustang lives near the Kali Gandaki River, 2800–3900 m above sea level. The tough conditions cause a large winter migration into lower regions of Nepal. The administrative centre of Mustang District
Mustang District
Mustang District, a part of Dhawalagiri Zone, is one of the seventy-five districts of Nepal, a landlocked country of South Asia. The district, with Jomsom as its headquarters, covers an area of 3,573 km² and has a population of 14,981....

 is at Jomsom
Jomsom
Jomsom , also known as Dzongsam or New Fort, is a town located at an altitude of 2800m in Mustang, Nepal. It extends over both the banks of the Kali Gandaki River. Along the banks of Kali Gandaki river there are rocks holy to the Hindus. The soaring peaks of Dhaulagiri and Nilgiri form a backdrop...

 (eight km south of Kagbeni) which has had an airport since 1962 and has become the main tourist entry point since Mustang was opened to western tourism in 1992.

Geography

The main hydrographic feature of Mustang is the Kali Gandaki River. The river runs southward towards Nepal Terai
Terai
The Terai is a belt of marshy grasslands, savannas, and forests located south of the outer foothills of the Himalaya, the Siwalik Hills, and north of the Indo-Gangetic Plain of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and their tributaries. The Terai belongs to the Terai-Duar savanna and grasslands ecoregion...

, bisecting Mustang. Routes paralleling the river once served as a major trade route between Tibet and India
India
India , 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 with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, especially for salt
Salt
In chemistry, salts are ionic compounds that result from the neutralization reaction of an acid and a base. They are composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically neutral...

. Part of the river valley in the southern Mustang District
Mustang District
Mustang District, a part of Dhawalagiri Zone, is one of the seventy-five districts of Nepal, a landlocked country of South Asia. The district, with Jomsom as its headquarters, covers an area of 3,573 km² and has a population of 14,981....

 forms by some measures the deepest gorge in the world.
Traditional Mustang (the Lo Kingdom) is 53 km north-south at its longest and 60 km east - west at its widest, and ranges from a low point of 2750 m above sea level on the Kali Gandaki River just north of Kagbeni to 6700 m (Khamjung Himal, a peak in southeast Mustang.)

History

Mustang was once an independent kingdom, although closely tied by language and culture to Tibet. From the 15th century to the 17th century, its strategic location granted Mustang control over the trade between the Himalayas
Himalayas
The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...

 and India
India
India , 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 with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. At the end of the 18th century the kingdom was annexed by Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...

.

Though still recognized by many Mustang residents, the monarchy
Monarchy
A monarchy is a form of government in which the office of head of state is usually held until death or abdication and is often hereditary and includes a royal house. In some cases, the monarch is elected...

 officially ceased to exist on October 7, 2008, by order of the Government of Nepal. The last official and current unofficial king (raja
Raja
Raja is an Indian term for a monarch, or princely ruler of the Kshatriya varna...

 or gyelpo) is Jigme Dorje Palbar Bista (born c.1933), who traces his lineage directly back to Ame Pal, the warrior who founded this Buddhist
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...

 kingdom in 1380. Ame Pal oversaw the founding and building of much of the Lo and Mustang capital of Lo Manthang
Lo Manthang
Lo Manthang is a medieval walled city and Village Development Committee in Mustang District in the Dhawalagiri Zone of northern Nepal. At the time of the 1991 Nepal census it had a population of 876 people living in 178 individual households....

, a walled city surprisingly little changed in appearance from that time period.

In 2007, a shepherd in Mustang discovered a collection of 55 cave paintings depicting the life of Buddha.

Tourism

Even though foreign visitors have been allowed to the region since 1992, tourism to Upper Mustang is regulated. Foreigners need to obtain a special permit to enter, which costs US$50 per day per person. Most tourists travel by foot over largely the same trade route used in the 15th century. Over a thousand western trekkers now visit each year, with over 2,000 in 2008, with October being the peak month, followed by August. On August 27, 2010, local youth leaders in Mustang threatened to bar tourists beginning October 1, 2010 due to the refusal of the Nepalese government to provide any of the $50 per day fee to the local economy

In culture

  • In the book Merlins Keep, a novel by Madeleine Brent (aka Peter O'Donnell), published 1977, Mustang is the setting for the heroine's youth and later adventures.

• In the book, The Kingdom, a novel by Clive Cussler and Grant Blackwood, published in 2011, Mustang is the setting for a large part of the adventure.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK