Kimathanka is a Village (previously, a village development committee) in Bhotkhola rural municipality of Sankhuwasabha District of

Province No. 1 Province No. 1 (proposed names: Kirat Autonomous State, Kirat, Limbuwan, Khambuwan Rashtriya Morcha, Nepal, Khambuwan, Mount Everest, Sagarmatha, Virata, Birat and Koshi River, Koshi) is the easternmost of the seven Provinces of Nepal, province ...

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

and serves as the Nepalese counterpart of the Nepal-China (

Tibet autonomous region The Tibet Autonomous Region or Xizang Autonomous Region, often shortened to Tibet or Xizang, is a Provinces of China, province-level Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China in Southwest China. I ...

) border at Zhentang (Chentang). At the time of the

1991 census A nationwide census, commonly known as Census 1991, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday 21 April 1991. This was the 19th UK census. ''Census 1991'' was organised by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys in England and Wales, th ...

, it had a population of 303 people living in 50 individual households. Being among the most remote Himalayan villages of Nepal, Kimathanka is also the end point of the in-progress 362 kilometers long

Biratnagar Biratnagar () is a metropolitan city in Nepal, which serves as the capital of Province No. 1. With a population of 242,548 as per the 2011 census, it is the largest city in the province and also the headquarters of Morang district. As per the p ...

- Khandbari-Kimathanka road called

Koshi Highway Koshi Highway ( ne, कोशी राजमार्ग) or H08 is a 390 km long planned highway located in Province No. 1 of Nepal. It is north-south highway which is understood to be shortest highway which connects India to China across ...

, which plans to connect the village with the provincial headquarter of

and subsequently, with the Indian border town of Jogbani. The Arun River runs through the valley below the village. In 2019, road embankment construction on the Chinese side led to fear of potential downstream flooding in Kimathanka. In November 2020, Prime Minister of Nepal

KP Sharma Oli Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli ( ne, खड्गप्रसाद शर्मा ओली, ; born 22 February 1952) is a Nepalese politician and former Prime Minister of Nepal. He served three terms as prime minister from 11 October 2015 to 3 Augu ...

visited Kimathanka inspecting the progress of Koshi Highway and other infrastructure projects in the area.

Border

Kimathanka is near the border with

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

. The border was part of brief dispute between China and Nepal before 1960. The dispute was resolved in their 1961 border agreement. The Chentang township in Tibet is on the other side of the valley. There has been local cross-border trade for decades. It has been sufficiently crucial for the local economy in recent years that in 2008 when Chinese tightened its border control during the Olympics, Kimathanka and the nearby villages faced food shortages due to disruption of the local trade. A Chinese border checkpoint was set up in 2011 checking border crossing permits of Nepalese. In 2015, there were recorded 7700 border crossings and the annual trade at this port was valued at .

Culture

Kimathanka was one of the areas of Nepal that had traditionally practiced

polyandry Polyandry (; ) is a form of polygamy in which a woman takes two or more husbands at the same time. Polyandry is contrasted with polygyny, involving one male and two or more females. If a marriage involves a plural number of "husbands and wives" ...

, however that practice is fading.

References

External links

UN map of the municipalities of Sankhuwasabha District
Populated places in Sankhuwasabha District China–Nepal border crossings {{Sankhuwasabha-geo-stub