The Kingdom lies east of Nepal and west of the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. It is the south of the Tibetan hinterland and the north of the Indian territories of Assam and West Bengal.

Located in the Heart of the Himalayan mountain range, Bhutan is a land – locked country surrounded by mountains in the north and west. The rugged east, visited by few Western travelers, borders the spare and largely unknown Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. The high Himalaya in the northern steppes separates the kingdom from Tibet.

The population of 600,000 is made up primarily of indigenous Bhutanese. Many naturalized citizens came originally from Tibet and India. In the higher reaches in the Kingdom an in some isolated valleys, hill tribes assuming Bhutanese nationality thrive on the land. Some, like those from Merek and Sakteng in the east and Laya on the north, have no contact with Western civilization and trade only in bartered goods.

The lower southern regions are inhabited by migrant Nepalese who have been granted Bhutanese nationality. Most of them are agricultural workers who take advantage of the fertile southern land. Most industrial areas are also located in south. The southern districts are less than central; districts abut more populated than northern mountains regions.

Altitudes in the south range from 1.000 to 4,500 feet. Altitudes in the more populated central regions range from 4,000 feet in the east around Tashigang to a high of 17,000 feet over the highest pass. The altitude at Thimpu, the capital, is 7,700 feet.

Until roads were built in the early 1960s. it took travelers a6t least five days to make the journey from the Indian border at Phuentsholing to Thimpu. A high mountaind range separates the lowlands of the south from the central valleys. Before the Chinese closed the border with Tibet in 1959, the Bhutanese used to trade across the lower passes in the north of the country as they remained open during the cold winter months.