Sarpang District (
Dzongkha
Dzongkha (; ) is a Sino-Tibetan language that is the official and national language of Bhutan. It is written using the Tibetan script.
The word means "the language of the fortress", from ' "fortress" and ' "language". , Dzongkha had 171,080 n ...
: གསར་སྤང་རྫོང་ཁག་;
Wylie: ''Gsar-spang rdzong-khag''; also known as "Geylegphug") is one of the 20
dzongkhag
The Kingdom of Bhutan is divided into 20 districts ( Dzongkha: ). Bhutan is located between the Tibet Autonomous Region of China and India on the eastern slopes of the Himalayas in South Asia.
are the primary subdivisions of Bhutan. They ...
s (districts) comprising
Bhutan
Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...
. Sarpang covers a total area of 1,946 sq km
and stretches from Lhamoizhingkha in West Bhutan to Manas National Park in the east.
Sarpang Dzongkhag is divided into one dungkhag, Gelephu, and 12 gewogs.
Languages
The dominant language in Sarpang is
Nepali, an
Indo-European
The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutch ...
language spoken by the heterogeneous
Lhotshampa
The Lhotshampa or Lhotsampa ( ne, ल्होत्साम्पा; ) people are a heterogeneous Bhutanese people of Nepalese descent. "Lhotshampa", which means "southern borderlanders" in Dzongkha, began to be used by the Bhutanese state i ...
community. The
East Bodish
The East Bodish languages are a small group of non-Tibetic Bodish languages spoken in eastern Bhutan and adjacent areas of Tibet and India. They include:
* Dakpa (Tawang Monpa)
* Dzala
* Nyen, including Mangde and Phobjib
* Chali
* Bumthang
...
Kheng language
The Khengkha language (Dzongkha ྨཕགལཔམཕ), or Kheng, is an East Bodish language spoken by ~40,000 native speakers worldwide, in the Zhemgang, Trongsa, and Mongar districts of south–central Bhutan.
Classification
Khengkha is a ...
is also spoken in the northeastern reaches of the district.
Administrative divisions
Sarpang District is currently divided into twelve village blocks (or ''
gewogs''):
*
Chhuzagang Gewog
*
Chhudzom Gewog
*
Dekiling Gewog
*
Gakiling Gewog
*
Gelephu Gewog
*
Jigmechhoeling Gewog
*
Samtenling Gewog
Samtenling Gewog (Dzongkha: བསམ་གཏན་གླིང་) is a gewog (village block) of Sarpang District, Bhutan
Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked co ...
*
Senghe Gewog
*
Serzhong Gewog
*
Shompangkha Gewog
*
Tareythang Gewog
*
Umling Gewog
Environment
Much of Sarpang District consists of
environmentally protected areas. Far western Sarpang District (the ''gewog'' of
Senghe) contains part of the uninhabited
Phibsoo Wildlife Sanctuary
The Phibsoo Wildlife Sanctuary is the second-smallest national park in Bhutan, covering in western Sarpang District and southeastern Dagana District along the border with West Bengal. It is connected to Jigme Singye Wangchuck National Park and ...
along the India border; northern Sarpang District (the ''gewog'' of
Jigmechhoeling) is part of
Jigme Singye Wangchuck National Park
Jigme Singye Wangchuck National Park (formerly Black Mountains National Park) covers an area of in central Bhutan. It protects a large area of the Black Mountains (Bhutan), Black Mountains, a sub−range of the Himalayan Range System.
The park ...
; eastern and southeastern Sarpang District (the ''gewogs'' of
Jigmechhoeling,
Tareythang
Tareythang is a small village located in Pakyong sub division at the Pakyong District of Sikkim state in India. This village is about 1250 m above sea level with a sub-tropical climate. It is 12 kilometers away from Pakyong. In electoral roll of ...
and
Umling) lie within
Royal Manas National Park
Royal Manas National Park is Bhutan's oldest national park, and the Royal government considers it the "conservation showpiece of the Kingdom" and a "genetic depository" for valuable plants. It has an area of and covers eastern Sarpang District ...
. Sarpang is bisected by a wide swath of
biological corridor
A wildlife corridor, habitat corridor, or green corridor is an area of habitat connecting wildlife populations separated by human activities or structures (such as roads, development, or logging). This allows an exchange of individuals between ...
connecting all three environmentally protected areas.
History
On April 26, 2007, Lhamoy Zingkha Dungkhag
A dungkhag ( dz, དྲུང་ཁག་ ''drungkhak'') is a sub-district of a dzongkhag (district) of Bhutan. The head of a dungkhag is a ''Dungpa''. As of 2007, nine of the twenty dzongkhags had from one to three dungkhags, with sixteen dungkh ...
(sub-district) was formally transferred from Sarpang Dzongkhag to Dagana Dzongkhag,Nichula Gewog
Nichula Gewog is a '' gewog'' (village block) of Dagana District, Bhutan. It also comprises part of Lhamoy Zingkha Dungkhag (sub-district), along with Lhamoy Zingkha and Deorali Gewog
Deorali Gewog is a former gewog (village block) of Dagana Dis ...
s (Zinchula) – that formed the westernmost part of Sarpang and became the southernmost part of Dagana.
See also
*Districts of Bhutan
The Kingdom of Bhutan is divided into 20 districts ( Dzongkha: ). Bhutan is located between the Tibet Autonomous Region of China and India on the eastern slopes of the Himalayas in South Asia.
are the primary subdivisions of Bhutan. They p ...
* Lhamoyzingkhar
*Trongsa Province
Trongsa Province ( Dzongkha: ཀྲོང་གསར་; Wylie: ''krong-gsar'') was one of the nine historical Provinces of Bhutan.
Trongsa Province occupied lands in central Bhutan corresponding somewhat to modern Trongsa District, although th ...
References
Districts of Bhutan
{{bhutan-geo-stub