Geography

Nepal is of roughly trapezoidal shape, 800 kilometres (500 mi) long and 200 kilometres (125 mi) wide, with an area of 147,181 sq km (56,827 sq mi). It is a landlocked bordered by China (Tibet) to the north and by India to the south, east and west. Although Nepal shares no boundary with Bangladesh, the two countries are separated by a narrow strip of land about 21 kilometre (13 mi) wide, called the Chicken's Neck. Efforts are underway to make this area a free-trade zone.

Mt Everest, the tallest mountain in the world, is situated between Nepal and Tibet. Other mountains including Annapurna I, II, III and IV are located in the Nepalese Annapurna Mountain Range.

The Land

For a small country, Nepal has great physical diversity, ranging from the Tarai Plain - the northern rim of the Gangetic Plain situated at about 300 metres above sea level in the south - to the 8,848-meter-high Mount Everest, locally known as Sagarmatha (its Nepali name), in the north. From the lowland Tarai belt, landforms rise in successive hill and mountain ranges, including the stupendous rampart of the towering Himalayas, ultimately reaching the Tibetan Plateau beyond the Inner Himalayas. This rise in elevation is punctuated by valleys situated between mountain ranges. Within this maze of mountains, hills, ridges, and low valleys, elevational (altitudinal) changes resulted in ecological variations.

Nepal commonly is divided into three broad physiographic areas: the Mountain Region, the Hill Region and the Tarai Region. All three parallel each other, from east to west, as continuous ecological belts, occasionally bisected by the country's river systems.

The Mountain Region

The Mountain Region (known as Parbat in Nepali) is situated at 4,000 metres or more above sea level to the north of the Hill Region. The Mountain Region constitutes the central portion of the Himalayan range originating in the Pamirs, a high altitude region of Central Asia. Its natural landscape includes Mount Everest and the other seven of the world's ten highest peaks, and is also the legendary habitat of the mythical creature, the yeti, or abominable snowman.

In general, the snow line occurs between 5,000 and 5,500 metres. The region is characterised by inclement climatic and rugged topographic conditions, and human habitation and economic activities are extremely limited and arduous. Indeed, the region is sparsely populated, and whatever farming activity exists is mostly confined to the low-lying valleys and the river basins, such as the upper Kali Gandaki Valley.

The Hill Region

Situated south of the Mountain Region, the Hill Region (known as Pahar in Nepali) is mostly between 1,000 and 4,000 metres in altitude. It includes the Kathmandu Valley, the country's most fertile and urbanised area. Two major ranges of hills, commonly known as the Mahabharat Lekh and Siwalik Range (or Churia Range), occupy the region. In addition, there are several intermontane valleys.

Despite its geographical isolation and limited economic potential, the region always has been the political and cultural centre of Nepal, with decision-making power centralised in Kathmandu, the nation's capital. Because of immigration from Tibet and India, the hill ranges historically have been the most heavily populated area. Despite heavy out-migration, the Hill Region comprised the largest share of the total population in 1991.

The Tarai Region

In complete topographic contrast to the Mountain and Hill regions, the Tarai Region, also called Madhesh, is a lowland tropical and subtropical belt of flat, alluvial land stretching along the Nepal-India border, and paralleling the Hill Region. It is the northern extension of the Gangetic Plain in India, commencing at about 300 metres above sea level and rising to about 1,000 metres at the foot of the Siwalik Range. The Tarai includes several valleys (dun), such as the Surkhet and Dang valleys in western Nepal, and the Rapti Valley (Chitwan) in central Nepal.

The word tarai, a term presumed to be derived from Persian, means 'damp,' and it appropriately describes the region's humid and hot climate. The region was formed and is fed by three major rivers: the Kosi, the Narayani (India's Gandak River), and the Karnali. A region that in the past contained malaria-infested, thick forests, commonly known as char kose jhari (dense forests approximately 12 kilometres wide), the Tarai was used as a defensive frontier by Nepalese rulers during the period of the British Raj (1858-1947) in India. In 199,1 the Tarai served as the country's granary and land resettlement frontier; it became the most coveted internal destination for land-hungry hill peasants.