Trashigang ( dz, བཀྲ་ཤིས་སྒང་།), or Tashigang, meaning "fortress of auspicious mount,"
is a town in eastern
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 mountainou ...
and the district capital of the
Trashigang Dzongkhag (district).
The town lies to the east side of the valley above the
Drangme Chhu river just south of where it is joined by the Gamri River. Trashigang is the eastern terminus of the
Lateral Road
The East-West Highway, also known as the Lateral Road, is the Bhutan primary east–west corridor, connecting Phuentsholing in the southwest to Trashigang in the east. In between, the Lateral Road runs directly through Wangdue Phodrang, Trongsa, ...
, Bhutan's main highway leading to
Phuntsholing
Phuntsholing, also spelled as Phuentsholing ( dz, ཕུན་ཚོགས་གླིང་), is a border town in southern Bhutan and is the administrative seat of Chukha District. The town occupies parts of both Phuentsholing Gewog and Samp ...
in the southwest.
History
Trashigang Dzong
Trashigang Dzong ( dz, བཀྲ་ཤིས་སྒང་རྫོང, literally "The Fortress of the Auspicious Hill") is one of the largest dzong fortress in Bhutan, located in Trashigang in Trashigang District of Bhutan. The fortress was b ...
was built in 1659 by
Trongsa Penlop Minjur Tenpa and served for centuries as an administrative headquarters and monastery, though government offices mostly relocated by 2011. Its sinking eastern foundation and crumbling upper walls necessitated either relocation or total destruction and reconstruction. In October 2011,
dzong, under renovation since 2007, was on the verge of collapse. However, , the Trashigang Dzong was still used for the town's yearly religious festival called
tsechu
A tshechu ( dz, ཚེས་བཅུ།, literally "day ten") is any of the annual religious Bhutanese festivals held in each district or dzongkhag of Bhutan on the tenth day of a month of the lunar Tibetan calendar. The month depends on the p ...
.
Administrative
Trashigang is the largest district in Bhutan and serves as the administrative seat for the Dzongkhag and a home for the monk body.
It has three sub-districts and fifteen gewogs, which include Bartsham, Bidung, Kanglung, Kangpara, Khaling, Lumang, Merak, Phongmey, Radhi, Sakteng, Samkhar, Shongphu, Thrimshing, Udzorong, and Yangneer.
Sherubtse College
Sherubtse College is the first accredited college in Bhutan, founded in 1966 by a group of Jesuits under the leadership of Father William Mackey. The college was affiliated to the University of Delhi by a special act of the Indian parliament.
...
was the first accredited college in Bhutan, founded in 1966 by a group of Jesuits under the leadership of William Mackey. As of 2003, it became part of the newly created Royal University of Bhutan system that comprises all public post-secondary schools in Bhutan.
Rangjung, Kanglung and Wamrong are some of the major towns under Trashigang district.
Demography
The population of Trashigang town was 3,037 (1,565 males and 1,472 females) according to the 2017 Population and Housing Census of Bhutan.
Transport
Trashigang is served by
Yonphula Airport which is around an hour drive from the town.
Climate
Trashigang features a dry-winter
subtropical highland climate
An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ...
(
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer
* Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan
* Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...
''Cwb'').
Gallery
File:Tashigang Dzong 111120.jpg , Trashigang Dzong (2011)
File:Trashigang upper market-Bhutan-2008-01-02.jpg, Town center, Trashigang, Bhutan (2008)
File:Tashigang District Court.jpg, District court, Trashigang, Bhutan
File:Trashigang Dzong-a-2008-01-02.jpg, Trashigang Dzong (2008)
File:Tashigang Chazam.jpg, Trashigang Chagzam bridge
See also
*
Chorten Kora
Chorten Kora is an important stupa next to the Kholongchu River in Trashi Yangtse, in East Bhutan. Nearby is a town of the same name. The stupa was built in the 15th century by Lama Ngawang Lodrö, the nephew of Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal in ord ...
*
Duksum
References
External links
*
Trashigang and Dzong, Bhutan - Photo Gallery , The India Info
Populated places in Bhutan
{{Bhutan-geo-stub