Samtse District

Samtseབསམ་རྩེ་རྫོང་ཁག་ (older spelling Samchi), is one of the 20 dzongkhag (districts) comprising Bhutan.

History and culture

Historically, Samstse was sparsely populated as the mountain-dwelling Bhutanese considered the low-lying district to be prone to tropical disease. During the early 20th century the district experienced a large influx of Nepalese who were invited to the area to assist in forest-clearing. Overall the district population has recently been increasing, and there presently is a [http://www.kuenselonline.com/article.php?sid=5643 housing shortage in Samtse] as reported by Kuensel.

Samste is home to the Lhopu people, a little-studied ethnic group of approximately 1000 persons. The Bhutanese believe them to be the aboriginals who predated the Tibetan migration from the north. The Lhopus are noted for their animistic religious beliefs, their practice of marrying cross-cousins, and their unique burial customs.

Economy and education

Samtste has an abundance of natural deposits of talc, dolomite and other resources which are exported on a regular basis. It also houses a number of industrial and manufacturing units. Cardamom and oranges are the predominant cash crops, although most farmers practice subsistence farming.

Samtse is the site of one of the two campuses of the National Institute of Education, a college for teachers which is part of the Royal University of Bhutan system.

Geography

With an area of approximately 1500 sq. kilometers it is a little more than twice the size of Singapore. It shares an international border with the Indian states of Sikkim to the west and West Bengal to the south, and internal borders with Haa and Chukha dzongkhag.Samtse is divided into 16 "gewogs":

1. Bara
2. Biru
3. Chargharey
4. Chengmari
5. Denchukha
6. Dorokha
7. Dungtoe
8. Ghumauney
9. Lehereni
10. Mayona
11. Nainital
12. Pagli
13. Samtse
14. Sipsu
15. Tading
16. Tendu

ee also

*Districts of Bhutan